Name: Rush of Californians leaving Bay Area for COVID-19 vaccines
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Rush of Californians leaving Bay Area for COVID-19 vaccines

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San Francisco resident David Wang really wanted to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. But at 42 years old, he wasn’t eligible for it yet in San Francisco County.He joined the Bay Area vaccine hunters Facebook group after reading about it online, hoping to find a place where he could be vaccinated sooner than April 15. In the information-filled online forum, members share stories on everything from appointment availability to how they to offering help to seniors and those without internet access book appointments.While monitoring the group daily, Wang noticed that many people began to write about getting vaccines easily outside the Bay Area — in places like Sacramento or Fresno or even as far as Bakersfield. One recent location that many members were talking about was Tulare’s International Agri-Center, a Curative-run site in Tulare County that was accepting people from any county in California.Still, Wang was hesitant because he didn’t want to take away a vaccine from someone who needed it or contribute to the county running out of supply. Luckily, other Facebook members had allegedly called and emailed to ask these questions and the resounding answer was to “come on down to Tulare” — they had plenty.He booked an appointment for his girlfriend, his sister and her boyfriend and the group made a road trip out of it, traveling 237 miles each way to reach the vaccination site. Wang said it was almost a four-hour drive each way, but it was “so worth it.”“It was really important for me and my family to find ethical shots,” Wang said. “We were not going to cheat or lie or exaggerate medical conditions to get a shot.”He said the whole experience was extremely positive — they were greeted by a friendly and helpful staff and he received his shot within five minutes of arriving. Finally, he felt relief. “It was like walking through a portal and coming out on the other side where things start getting better instead of stagnation,” Wang said. “It was worth it.”It's not entirely clear why there's excess vaccine in rural counties outside the Bay Area, but whether it’s , difficulty booking vaccine appointments or other factors, some rural counties — Tulare County has slightly more than 466,000 residents according to the most recent census data — have a rate of vaccine adoption that remains far lower than in urban areas.Mountain View resident Neil Pomerleau said he also learned of the Tulare site through the vaccine hunters Facebook group and he’d been monitoring it for a few weeks when he saw the posting. He said he and two friends also made a road trip of the 3.5-hour drive, even stopping to enjoy some local dining in Tulare while they were there.“There’s been this careful balance of wanting to get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect myself and others, but also wanting to wait my turn and make sure those who need it are able to get it,” he said. “Because the Tulare site opened up to healthy adults without risk factors, I felt confident that I wasn’t taking a dose away from someone who needed it more.”Sparshith Gowda had been looking through the vaccine hunters Facebook group for just four days when he read that the UC Davis health center in Sacramento was offering vaccines to all California residents ages 16 and up. He traveled from Cupertino, driving about two hours each way.Pamela Wu, director of media relations at UC Davis Health, said the site is happy to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to California residents. “We expanded eligibility ahead of schedule because we had lots of appointment availability — as many as 1,500 open appointments per day. We decided it was better to fill those appointments with people eager to be vaccinated, rather than leave slots unfilled as we waited for the calendar to turn to April 15,” she said. “This effort complements another one of our programs that reaches out directly to underserved communities for equity purposes. Every vaccination is a step closer to ending this pandemic.”The biggest hurdle people like Wang face is having to return to the county where they received their first shot to get their second, if they got Pfizer or Moderna. Wang has an appointment for his second dose in Tulare, but he hopes to find a vaccination location much closer since he’ll be eligible in San Francisco County on April 15.Wang said he feels grateful to Tulare County and that he’s lucky to have the resources to make a long trip like that for a vaccine shot. “Lots of people don't have the means to do what I did, with a car, with a job that let me take a day off on a whim,” he said.

San Francisco resident David Wang really wanted to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. But at 42 years old, he wasn’t eligible for it yet in San Francisco County.He joined the Bay Area vaccine hunters Facebook group after reading about it online, hoping to find a place where he could be vaccinated sooner than April 15. In the information-filled online forum, members share stories on everything from appointment availability to how they to offering help to seniors and those without internet access book appointments.While monitoring the group daily, Wang noticed that many people...

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Tessa McLean

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Rush of Californians leaving Bay Area for COVID-19 vaccines

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