To Our Dear Staff:
As an essential healthcare worker, your decision to receive the Covid-19 vaccination can be a very personal issue, with your own opinions and experiences. We understand and respect that you will want to weigh the facts for yourself and that this can be a difficult decision for you, affecting your loved ones and clients. Now that the vaccination has become available in San Diego, we want to support you in your decision making process.
Resource Links
Dr. Grillo-Lopez Q&A with Coast Care Partners. On Friday, January 14, 2021, our team was privileged to participate in a Q&A session with Dr. Antonio Grillo-Lopez. If you missed the opportunity to join us for the Q&A, the session is also posted on YouTube. Dr. Grillo-Lopez begins with a brief presentation, and then answers questions covering many aspects of the vaccine. This is a great starting point if you are beginning to learn about the vaccine.
Vaccine Availability. Beginning Monday, January 11, the County of San Diego began to widely provide vaccinations to healthcare workers. This is the link for an appointment. Throughout the day available times open up and then become unavailable. We will do our best to continue to notify you as appointments become available. If you are remotely considering the vaccination, we highly encourage you to make an appointment for a vaccination as soon as you are able, for some of the reasons outlined below and because we do not know when vaccinations may be available again for healthcare workers after this first round. Appointments are at no cost to you and they fill up quickly.
Appointment Assistance. You should have received messages from our team about how to register for an appointment. If you have questions about signing up for an appointment or are having difficulties, please do not hesitate to call our office and we will be happy to assist you.
Why to Receive the Vaccination
- Health for yourself & your family: You may or may not know anyone close to you who has become infected with the virus. Several on our team have, including our Client Services Manager Michelle Krakower. Read about her experience here. It is powerful.
- Health of your client. The mortality rate for those 85 years and older is 30%. Should any of us infect one of our clients with the coronavirus, the chances of them dying from that exposure is nearly one in three.
- Available work. We anticipate that the majority of our clients will require their Caregivers to provide proof that they do not pose a coronavirus risk, either through an antibody test or through a vaccination. In other words, without the vaccination (or recovery from having the coronavirus), you may not be able to work for most of our clients.
Our Vaccination Experiences. On Monday when vaccinations were available, CEO David Chong, Operations Manager Tyler Bowker, and Program Manager Stephanie Seiler were a few to receive the vaccination through the County. Our arms are a bit sore, and we were advised that the next day we may experience other minor side effects. We all found the experience to be surprisingly smooth at Petco Park, with friendly nurses available to answer questions when we arrived. In fact: 1) your employment verification is satisfactory, you do not need to print it, having it available on your phone is adequate along with a photo ID; 2) pay stubs are a reliable option, again you can have hard copies, or have them available on your phone (don’t forget your photo ID!); 3) It was quicker than most doctors appointments; and 4) the site is very easy to find. Tyler has written about her experience with the vaccination, reflecting her own health concerns and questions about the safety of the vaccine.
