SAN DIEGO
Almost half the active-duty military population of San Diego County have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine, the Navy said Thursday.
The local vaccine numbers, which the Navy had previously declined to provide, show that vaccination rates among local service members are higher than those among active-duty troop across all branches. The latest numbers from the Defense Department show fewer than 40 percent of active-duty service members are fully vaccinated.
Navy Medical Forces Pacific, which is in charge of administrating vaccines at both Naval Medical Center San Diego and Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, said that it has provided 66,148 first doses and 49,745 second doses of the vaccine to people on active duty. There are about 110,000 people on active duty in San Diego County.
By ERICA EARL | STARS AND STRIPES Published: April 8, 2021 TOKYO A Navy officer has been punished for penning a letter to the Yokosuka Naval Base housing office that excoriated his enlisted neighbors as “deviants” and “perverts.” Yokosuka Naval Hospital determined that Lt. Nathanael Allison wrote the letter, in which he complained of being forced to live with his family in a building for enlisted families, according to Task and Purpose, a military news site, on Thursday. Task and Purpose cited Regena Kowitz, a spokeswoman for Naval Medical Forces Pacific in San Diego. Kowitz did not respond to queries Friday from Stars and Stripes.
Keeping warfighters mission-ready and units online is always the top priority for the Military Health System, something complicated in 2020 by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Even as COVID-19 vaccine distribution begins, the MHS is preparing guidance for 2021 to build on its success in the past year by continuing to prevent the virus from having a significant effect on the readiness of U.S. Armed Forces.
Sustain medical readiness starts with a lack of complacency for health care workers and their supervisors. That mission has been complicated by 10 months of additional stress to the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing of frontline service members dealing with the virus, from the steady risk of exposure to worries about spreading the disease to family members. But the basics, such as wearing a mask and social distancing, remain fundamentals in 2021, for MHS workers and anyone in uniform, including those who have received a vaccine.
By CAITLIN DOORNBOS | STARS AND STRIPES Published: December 18, 2020
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See other free reports here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan The annual flu-shot campaign, SHOTEX, at the naval hospital here provided a mass-immunization dry run for the corpsmen preparing to inoculate thousands of personnel with the coming coronavirus vaccine. The Nov. 16-Dec. 11 campaign provided Navy corpsmen real-world experience that could come in handy once the coronavirus vaccine is available for the general public, Naval Medical Forces Pacific spokeswoman Regena Kowitz said in an email Friday.
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The first batches of Pfizer’s long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine arrived in San Diego County Monday for both U.S. Department of Defense personnel and civilians, with initial vaccinations to begin as soon as Tuesday.
Naval Medical Center San Diego received an unspecified number of vaccines Monday, with front-line medical workers and essential mission personnel such as EMS, firefighters and gate personnel to begin receiving the first dose of the vaccinations Tuesday. Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton will take a portion of those doses for personnel north of San Diego.
“We are proud to support operation Warp Speed,” said Rear Adm. Tim Weber, commander of Naval Medical Forces Pacific. “This vaccine will strengthen our ability to protect our people. I am confident in the stringent regulatory process of the FDA.”