At one point, they were giving out 50 vaccines every 15 minutes, but now San Luis Obispo County is closing the doors on its three mass vaccination sites.
"Vaccinated ourselves out of business," one official said about shutting the mass vaccination site at Cuesta Community College.
“It’s bittersweet, but I’m also very, very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish," said Kevin Coomer, Task Force Leader at the County of San Luis Obispo Public Health Department.
San Luis Obispo County is closing its three mass vaccination sites. The sites in Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande, and San Luis Obispo closed at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Yael Shabtay, a volunteer with the Medical Reserve Corps and a second-year student at Cal Poly said, “How far we’ve come science-wise has really inspired me to want to be a part of that in the future.”
According to the county, about 60% of eligible people have been vaccinated, and there is more vaccine availability and a nationwide downturn in demand for the vaccine.
“The immediate need to have the mass vaccination really no longer existed,” Coomer explained.
San Luis Obispo County will now be focusing on mobile and pop-up clinics.
The site at Cuesta Community College has been distributing vaccines since December of last year.
Manual Lujan, a resident of Morro Bay, received his second vaccine and commented on how he was able to show up without making an appointment beforehand.
“Just so smooth here, just so quick. I’m kind of a bit upset that they’re closing," he said.
The county will also be giving out doses at the public health clinic sites in San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, and Grover Beach.
People can make appointments on the MyTurn website by plugging in their zip code and finding the nearest pharmacies or clinics.
But the bonds made at these mass vaccination sites are strong.
Hattie Sentmore, one of the traveling medical staff and a resident of New Orleans, said, “I’m going to miss them. We all decided we’re going to meet up at least once a year here, to come back to kind of enjoy each other, see each other. Kind of see what’s going on in our lives a year from now.”
At the peak of vaccinations, the county said they distributed about 1,000 doses per day per site. On Friday, they had about 1,270 for all three sites combined but walk-ins were also expected.
Overall, county officials said they administered more than 162,000 doses at the three sites to more than 87,000 people.