FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2020
Santa Clara County Public Health Department vaccinates skilled nursing staff to protect facility residents
Santa Clara County, CA – The first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine are being offered to 6,000 skilled nursing facility staff in Santa Clara County to protect them, and the elderly and vulnerable patients in their care, who are more likely to have severe illness and die from COVID-19. In Santa Clara County, five percent of COVID-19 cases are in long-term care facilities, however they account for 45 percent of all COVID-19 deaths. The County of Santa Clara has established a clinic with the capacity to vaccinate up to 210 individuals every day, with capacity to scale up. The clinic will operate seven days per week and will be one of many methods used for future vaccine distribution to additional community members as they become eligible. All 210 appointment slots were filled for the first day of vaccinations on December 17, 2020.