COVID-19 vaccine appointments at the Santa Barbara County Public Health vaccination clinic in Lompoc are now filled up for the rest of the week.
People who live or work in Santa Barbara County have been lining up at the Dick DeWees Community & Senior Center all week to receive their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
"So for this particular POD (point of distribution), our capacity has been 1,350 a day so that comes up to roughly close to 9,000 for the week,” said Jeanie Sleigh, POD manager at the Lompoc vaccination site.
A sufficient amount of vaccines that Sleigh says was made possible with the help of a federal allocation.
"Our funder, primary funders and oversight body HRSA which is a health resource and services admin has made federal vaccine allocation available to us,” she said.
Santa Maria resident Geoffrey Wheeler received his shot on Wednesday.
"This is the closest one I could get, the fastest I could find. Everything in Santa Maria is all booked up,” he said.
"Before this, I was a little bit concerned. You know, I heard a lot about people getting allergies or whatever," added Yupin Wheeler.
She said she was glad she was able to sign up at the last minute, but as of Wednesday evening, no additional appointments were available.
County health officials said they've been careful to avoid any waste of doses.
"We have gotten very close every day towards the end but we always keep a few people waiting,” Sleigh said, to ensure that not even one dose goes to waste.
"I think everybody should go out and get vaccinated because it's really important for us to be able to get back to the way that things were,” said Lompoc resident Kelly Willerford.
Health officials want to remind people who are interested in receiving a vaccine at a county clinic that they must prove they are residents of Santa Barbara County or work in Santa Barbara County to avoid getting turned away.
The clinic will run through the end of the week and move to Santa Maria starting April 5 for seven days. Registration opens at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 1, on the County Public Health website.
