Vaccinating San Diego

Vaccination Eligibility

More categories of adults are becoming eligible to receive a Covid vaccination, not just 65+ and healthcare workers. If you live in San Diego County, work with people or with food, or have substantial health problems, likely you can get one already. Specifics and wording of eligibility, while set by the state and based on federal guidelines, will very front county to county and from provider to provider, say in fine detail of documentation for job or health condition based eligibility.

San Diego County

Note that vaccination eligibility includes 50+ starting April 1st, and starting April 15th, the general population. There is a strong push, supposedly for accounting and reporting vaccine utilization, for each county to vaccinate their own residents, and you will have to show an ID, like a DL when you show-up. Vaccination is free [covered by feds], but providers will want to bill whatever insurance or coverage you may have, like MediCare, and will ask for relevant information.

California had half-a-year to prepare for getting vaccines into people. This nexus of world-wide expertise in running world’s largest networks, Google, Facebook and Amazon, has been notably unable to provide a reliable and convenient state-wide method for scheduling vaccinations.

Scheduling Vaccination

Anecdotally, major health systems, like KP, are well organized for vaccination scheduling and delivery. Outreach targets their own patients, but they will supposedly vaccinate anyone, though actual scheduling is TBD.

California state site has been unreliable, apparently under heavy load, crashing just before actually completing scheduling process. They will take your contact info and send a confirmation email, but with no follow-up as yet.

San Diego County site is voluminous and difficult to navigate, with peripheral information, like which locations are open when. Catching an available appointment has been tricky, as least during March. Anecdotally, new appointments may be released after midnight, but this may also be a time of the heavy system load. They send you to yet another site for actual scheduling, which in turn may crash, just before completing the process.

There is a map-based service through the County, for vaccination locations near you, but they may not have the most updated information, like the recent changes in North County. Start by entering your ZIP code or allow Location Services in your web browser.

Sharp in North County

Sharp healthcare system in San Diego is running the major vaccination sites for the County and is sending their own patients through it, together with general population. Lack of coverage in the San Diego North County region is notable, after the CSU San Marcos location has been closed. Sharp’s northern-most location presently is Sharp Knollwood Building, 7944 Birmingham Drive, where 805 crosses 163.

Smaller N. County locations in Oceanside and Carlsbad may also have been closed, but a new location was announced in Escondido, at North Inland First United Methodist Church, 341 Kalmia St, though contact info is TBD. Del Mar Fairgrounds drive-through location [appointments required], has experienced recent shutdowns due to vaccine shortages.

Palomar is operating a drive-through location at Escondido, appointment required.

City of San Diego is running a vaccination location in Balboa Park, but regional eligibility is TBD.