California Gov. Gavin Newsom got a booster shot of Moderna vaccine in Oakland on Wednesday. Oct. 27, 2021
OAKLAND, Calif. - California Gov. Gavin Newsom got a booster shot of Moderna vaccine in Oakland on Wednesday, as he was eligible for an added shot because his original dose was the single Johnson & Johnson.
Right afterward, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf received a booster of Pfizer at the Asian Health Center on Webster Street. And then state Assemblywoman Mia Bonta got a Moderna booster, as well.
Schaaf said she got the booster because of her work "entails a lot of public contact. I'm an emergency responder as your mayor."
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California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly administered the shot to the governor.
"I'm choosing not to do J&J -- not because I had problems with J&J, but to make the point about the opportunity to mix and match," Newsom said. "So I had the choice. Mixing matching is something we do commonly in vaccines."
For the nearly 15 million people who got the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend booster shots for anyone who is 18 and older and who was vaccinated two or more months ago.
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For anyone who got the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, people who are older than 65, have underlying conditions or work in high-risk setting are eligible for a booster six months after their initial series.
Julia Liou, the incoming CEO of Asian Health Services, said it was an honor to welcome Newsom to "highlight the importance of boosters who are and those who are eligible for it."
She noted that during the last 18 months, the Asian community has been at "Ground Zero in the midst of a dual pandemic of both COVID and the rise in anti Asian hate and violence."
But she noted that the community has "also been at Ground Zero in terms of our advocacy locally, state and nationally and the fight back. And so, we are so pleased to be addressing these dual pandemics really from a public health framework and lens."
Asian Health Services, founded in 1974, provides health, social, and advocacy services for all regardless of income, insurance status, immigration status, language, or culture. The agency provides medical, dental and mental health care to 50,000 patients in English and over 14 Asian languages: Cantonese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Mien, Lao, Mongolian, Karen, Karenni, Arabic, American Sign Language and Burmese.