Mobile van offers COVID-19 vaccinations at San Diego Unified schools

A UC San Diego van is offering free COVID-19 vaccinations to students, staff, families and community members at five San Diego Unified schools in the coming weeks as the school district aims to get more people vaccinated by its deadline next month.

The school board decided in late September to mandate COVID vaccinations for students ages 16 and up, as well as staff, by Dec. 20.

As of Oct. 27, 69 percent of students 16 and older have been fully vaccinated, up from 56 percent in late September, according to the district. Among students 12 and up, about 61 percent are fully vaccinated.

As of Nov. 10, about 79 percent of school staff have been fully vaccinated, up from 76 percent in late September.

The district is not yet requiring students 12 to 15 to get vaccinated; that won’t happen until a COVID vaccine is fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration for children in that age range. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been fully approved for people 16 and older.

“By making COVID vaccines easily available and accessible to all of our students, staff, parents and community members, we will move closer to ending this pandemic, and ensuring that we can keep our kids safely in school,” said Richard Barrera, San Diego Unified board president in a statement.

At the beginning of October, Gov. Gavin Newsom decided to require COVID vaccines for public and private school students statewide, starting with students 12 and up, and for school staff. But the state has not yet set a deadline because it is waiting for full vaccine approval for people 12 to 15.

The UCSD van is offering all brands of COVID vaccines, plus COVID boosters. The vaccines are open to anyone, and no appointment is needed.

On Friday, Tara Tafoya took her two sons to the UC San Diego Health van at the San Diego Unified district office, where staff was offering the Pfizer pediatric vaccine. She and her two boys Luca, 11, (left) and Beau, 5, waited the required 15-minute observation period before leaving.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The van will be visiting these schools on the following days:

• Tuesday, Nov. 16: Bell Middle School, 620 Briarwood Road, 9 a.m. — 1 p.m.
• Wednesday, Nov. 17: Crawford High School, 4191 Colts Way, 9 a.m. — 1 p.m.
• Thursday, Nov. 18: Mann Middle School, 4345 54th Street, 8:30 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.
• Friday, Nov. 19: San Diego High School, 1405 Park Boulevard, 8:30 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.
• Monday, Dec. 6: Morse High School, 8:30 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, Dec. 7: Bell Middle School, 9 a.m. — 1 p.m.
• Wednesday, Dec. 8: Crawford High School, 9 a.m. — 1 p.m.
• Thursday, Dec. 9: Mann Middle School, 8:30 a.m. —12:30 p.m.
• Friday, Dec. 10: San Diego High School, 8:30 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.

In addition to the UCSD van, seven San Diego Unified schools that have on-campus health centers also offer COVID vaccinations by appointment.
Students 17 and younger must get parent’s permission for the vaccine.