Redwood City — The County of San Mateo is partnering with Stanford Health Care, the city of East Palo Alto and Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School to continue operating a weekly COVID-19 vaccine clinic in the hard-hit city.
“For our county to be fully protected from this virus, we need everybody to get vaccinated. This new partnership with Stanford is yet another way we and our partners are coming together to get a shot in every arm and make sure every one of our friends, neighbors and loved ones has easy access to available doses,” said County Supervisor Warren Slocum, whose Fourth District includes East Palo Alto.
The new partnership helps ensure the ongoing continuity of a community-oriented clinic in one of the county’s neighborhoods hardest hit by the COVID-19 virus. It also allows for a more predictable schedule for residents of East Palo Alto and surrounding areas.
“We are beyond proud to not only utilize Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School to provide state of the art programs for all sixth through eighth grade students in East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven community but to serve the community at large. As it is feasible, we want to continue to play a role in the city and county’s ongoing effort to distribute the vaccine to protect our families and residents. Ravenswood has a great sense of pride to host a vaccine distribution site because we believe many would be encouraged to come to a familiar place where community needs have been met many times before,” Gina Sudaria, superintendent of Ravenswood City School District.
Stanford Health Care, the city and the school will assume the operational functions of the site while the County continues helping with vaccine allocation and outreach, including door-to-door canvassing. The clinic offers both walk up and drive through availability.
“Stanford Health Care is committed to the role of vaccination in ending the pandemic. We’re grateful for the opportunity to partner with San Mateo County and community leaders in East Palo Alto to provide better access to vaccination. Access to vaccination is a critical tool to address the national inequities in vaccination we’re continuing to observe. We want to promote the safety and the ease for getting vaccinated. We’re all safer when everyone is vaccinated,” said Dr. Niraj Sehgal, chief medical officer at Stanford Health Care.
The County established the East Palo Alto vaccine site along with other community locations identified as significantly impacted by COVID-19 and with populations deemed harder to reach or challenged to use mass vaccination sites. Bringing in partners builds on that foundation.
“It is amazing that we have four different agencies working together to help marginalized communities. It is essential to the wellbeing of our community that we continue to have a long-term vaccination location that is familiar to our people. We hope that this partnership is a spark that will help us thrive beyond this pandemic,” East Palo Alto Councilwoman Lisa Gauthier said.
The East Palo Alto clinic will be held on Saturday afternoons at Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School, 2450 Ralmar Ave., East Palo Alto, CA, 94303.
While the East Palo Alto clinic does not require pre-scheduled appointments, the state of California’s MyTurn system offers options for online scheduling for vaccine clinics throughout San Mateo County.https://www.smchealth.org/covid-19-vaccination-program-overview
Learn more about vaccination opportunities in San Mateo County at https://www.smchealth.org/covidvaccine
