San Mateo County clinic now requires appointment

First and second vaccine dose shots are available at the drive-thru clinic in addition to boosters for those 18 and older. Even with an appointment, attendees should expect a wait. Boosters are also available at community clinics, health care providers and pharmacies, many without needing an appointment. A schedule of county-operated community clinics is available at smchealth.org/vaccine-clinic-calendar. The San Mateo Event Center is located at 1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo, 94403.

Pediatric vaccine shots (ages 5-11) are still available at the children’s clinic also located at the Event Center though appointments through MyTurn are strongly encouraged. County Health Chief Louis Rogers reported last week that the percentage of children age 5-11 with a first vaccine dose was at 26.9% as of Nov. 21 and that the first dose reach for ages 12-15 is 88.3% with 81.3% having completed the series. She also reported that the COVID rate was at 5.5 new cases per 100,000 population with the county in the moderate tier for community transmission.

The number of residents who have received a COVID-19 booster is now 178,457, according to Rogers.

David Canepa, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, urged residents to get vaccinated, boosted and tested while continuing to wear masks in public indoor settings in light of the report that the omicron variant has arrived here.

“We now know omicron is here, but we should not panic,” Canepa said. “The Bay Area must continue to lead the nation in ending COVID by remaining vigilant. ... We cannot let down our guard because if we see a surge like we did last winter with the delta variant our economy might again slow to a crawl and small businesses will suffer.”

San Mateo County Health sends samples to labs outside the county for genetic sequencing as part of the state’s surveillance efforts to identify variants. Any announcement about positive cases of omicron and other variants in San Mateo County may come from the California Department of Public Health, officials said.

“This is a time of watchfulness as the Omicron variant was designated by the World Health Organization as a ‘variant of concern’ and has been identified in California,” Rogers said by email Wednesday. “We’ll continue to follow the guidance of federal and state officials and the information that is gathered through increased laboratory testing for this new variant. It will likely be several weeks before we learn more about transmissibility, disease severity and protection levels of the currently approved vaccines.”