COVID vaccine push comes to Santa Barbara south county

ISLA VISTA, Calif. -- Roll up those sleeves. This month Santa Barbara County Public Health (SBCPH) is helping get more COVID-19 vaccines in people’s arms. There will be three clinics every week for the rest of January.

One of those clinics is Tuesdays and Fridays at the Embarcadaro Hall parking lot in Isla Vista. On Tuesday afternoon one of the nurses asked, “Which booster would you like?"

Giselle Leal is a UCSB senior. She was preparing for her third dose. “I’ll do the Moderna,” said Leal.

“The Moderna. OK. Coming right up,” responded the nurse.

Some UCSB students had a similar decision to make. Which one of the three COVID-19 vaccines they wanted to get.

Shane Kelley is a Junior at UCSB. “I wasn’t going to get the booster if I’m being honest," said Kelley. "But, school requires it and it’s not that big of a deal, so I got it.”

SBCPH and UCSB have teamed up to make it easier for students and Isla Vista residents to get the vaccine or booster.

“I walked," said Giselle. "It was literally like five minutes. So yeah, it was really nice.”

It’s part of a month-long push to get more people vaccinated or boosted. This month there will be clinics on Tuesdays and Fridays at the Embarcadero Hall in IV and Wednesdays at the Goleta Valley Community Center.

Stacey Rosenberger is SBCPH's emergency preparedness manager. She said, “We have about 400 appointments a day and we’re full for today. We’re taking limited walk-ins as we have availability of vaccine and staffing allows.”

Some students brought moral support. While others are doing what they can to end the pandemic.

“I think I speak for everybody, online school is terrible," said Kelley. "You don’t learn anything. You have no desire to learn anything. So anything that I can do to get back in the classroom and actually have a college experience, I’m willing to do.”

To signup for a vaccine for students visit UCSB's website or go to SBCPH's website or go to MyTurn.ca.gov.