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Residents wonder where to get 2nd dose after county shuts down vaccine site
A drive through clinic in Lafayette that gave out hundreds of doses of the COVID vaccine has been shut down. And now the people that went to the site at Stanley Middle School, mostly senior citizens, are scrambling to find out where to get their second shot.
LAFAYETTE, Calif. - A drive through clinic in Lafayette that gave out hundreds of doses of the coronavirus vaccine has been shut down. And now the people that went to the site at Stanley Middle School, mostly senior citizens, are scrambling to find out where to get their second shot.
The clock is now ticking to find appointments for the dose in the medically recommended time.
72-year-old Margaret Elmer spent four and a half hours on hold trying to get an answer.
"At one point I actually had on Monday, three phones going which was really amazing," she says.
The shutdown was apparently the result of two things. Attorneys for the clinic say one was a dispute over what Contra Costa County's rules allowed, which resulted in a complaint on file.
The second involved a change in the number of agencies allowed to distribute vaccine.
All this meant a second drive through clinic couldn't happen.
"The politics is overcoming the medicine and the needs of the community," says attorney Daniel Horowitz.
And now that community is frustrated. Many have been turning to senior advocates at Lamorinda Village looking for answers.
"Now that the second clinic has been canceled, there is a lot of confusion happening and a lot of requests for help," says Suzy Pak, a community volunteer with Lamorinda Village.
Here is what Contra Costa County is saying: That if you're over 75, John Muir's Clinic will contact you.
If you're under 75, it will be the county's health services.
But they say every person affected will get second doses through county sites.
"And it's us directing them and also telling them to wait because we aren't directing them to call a number, we are telling them this is what the county is going to do," Pak says.
But for those 566 people, it's already been two weeks since the first shot. And the clock is ticking to get the second in time.
Margaret Elmer says she didn't feel comfortable waiting for the county's call.
"They really caused a lot of problems and gave us a lot of sleepless nights," she says.
Again, those that used the Lafayette drive through clinic can expect a call from either John Muir or the county. We've been told those calls have already started. And anyone with questions can try 833-VAX-COCO.