San Diego County opens La Mesa vaccination super station, joining 3 elsewhere

LA MESA (CNS) - San Diego County's fourth COVID-19 Vaccination Super Station opened today at the Grossmont Center Mall in La Mesa, joining similar sites in Chula Vista, downtown San Diego and San Marcos, while a smaller point of distribution opened at the San Ysidro Southwestern College campus.

The Sharp HealthCare Grossmont Center Super Station will be open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., starting with the capacity to inoculate up to

2,000 people a day, with plans to expand to handle up to 5,000 vaccinations daily.

Sharp is providing 40 volunteers to staff 10 registration desks and 20 vaccination stations. The walk-thru clinic is located in the former

Charlotte Russe clothing store. Reservations are required and can be made at vaccinationsuperstationsd.com.

The Grossmont Center location joins the Petco Park UC San Diego Health Super Station downtown, Sharp HealthCare South Bay Super Station in Chula

Vista and Cal State University San Marcos Super Station, as well as multiple smaller sites in locations around the county.

"Opening this fourth Vaccination Super Station increases our ability as a county to administer the vaccine to healthcare workers and those over

65,'' said San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher. "We have quickly reached a milestone of having Super Stations in the south,

central, north and now eastern portions of the county.''

Sharp is the first health care provider to operate two Super Stations.

The Grossmont Center walk-thru site will replace and expand the site Sharp HealthCare had been operating on Wakarusa Street. Appointments made for that site transfer to the super station at the mall.

"Moving to this new site at Grossmont Center allows us to broaden our reach to the community in partnership with the Grossmont Healthcare

District and the County of San Diego,'' said Scott Evans, CEO of Sharp Grossmont Hospital and chairman of Sharp's COVID-19 vaccination program.

"At the previous district site, we administered nearly 17,000 COVID- 19 vaccination doses since Jan. 12 to our East County residents,'' he said.

"Through this partnership, as well as our partnerships with the city of Coronado and the city of Chula Vista, Sharp has so far administered nearly

40,000 vaccine doses at county community clinics. We look forward to vaccinating thousands more in the weeks and months ahead as part of our

commitment to help vaccinate our region against COVID-19.''

The county is currently only vaccinating people who live or work in San Diego County and are health care workers and or 65 or older.

Doctors, pharmacies, community clinics and other health care providers are also providing vaccinations to San Diegans in the priority groups.

While vaccines have arrived in the region, supplies remain extremely limited. People are asked to please be patient -- as supply increases,

providers will be able to perform more vaccinations.

As of Monday, 1.9% of San Diego County residents aged 16 and up have been fully vaccinated.