BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Friday marked one year since a dose of the vaccine was first administered to a Kern County resident.

Kern County Public Health said since then, nearly 990,000 doses have been administered here locally. More than 50% of the eligible population over the age of 5 is fully vaccinated and about 58% of the eligible population is partially vaccinated and even though we still are not out of the woods yet, Kern County Public Health said this progress is worth celebrating.

“We have come a long way in this pandemic, and it is thrilling that we have vaccines that are safe and effective. That’s something we only dreamed of when this pandemic first hit us and that we were able to get vaccines this quickly and widely available is quite a feat,” said Michelle Corson, Kern County Public Health

The first person to get the shot was Dr. Arash Heidari at Kern Medical and about a thousand more healthcare workers also got their first doses this day one year ago.

“It was such a time of anticipation.. We had been awaiting this very powerful tool to fight the pandemic and so many people were so excited about getting the vaccine.. And so it was definitely a time of celebration for our entire community,” said Corson as she recalled this day last year.

Since we might be in the midst of another surge in cases and hospitalizations, with modeling projections indicating we could peak in February, Corson says their responsibility to continue to educate the public on vaccines continues.

“we have a lot of work to do.. we still have a lot of people that we hope want to get vaccinated,” adds Corson.