Last Mobile Vaccine Clinic Set for Franklin Center

The free Mobile Vaccine Clinics that Public Health has been running for about a year will make a last visit to the Franklin Center on Wednesday, March 30. Nearly 30,000 people around Santa Barbara County have received their first, second, or booster dose of the COVID vaccine through the clinics. But the vaccine is now broadly available at pharmacies and medical clinics, and fewer people have been coming to the mobile sites, said Jackie Ruiz, spokesperson for Public Health, which is why the program is being scaled back.

It was the power of collaboration that made the clinics so successful, said Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso. With the help of trusted community partners, her department was able to bring 360 vaccine clinics to far reaches of the county and to neighborhoods that have no pharmacy, doctor’s office, or bus service nearby.

The walk-in clinic on Wednesday takes place between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. at the Franklin Center, 1111 East Mason Street in Santa Barbara. Pfizer shots will be available for children, as well as first, second, and booster doses of Pfizer for adults. The Moderna booster will also be available, as well as the Johnson & Johnson single COVID shot for adults. Anyone can line up to receive a flu shot, too, as long as they are over the age of 5.

Ruiz stated that though case rates of COVID infection in Santa Barbara County are trending downward, “It is critical to be prepared for what may come next.” The mobile vaccine clinic will continue in a more limited way, through June 2022. For more information, visit publichealthsbc.org/vaccine/.

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