City of Seaside drafts letter asking for more vaccines from county

SEASIDE, Calif. (KION) The City of Seaside has released of a draft of a letter to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors requesting more vaccines.

In the letter, Mayor Ian Oglesby argues that Seaside has higher positivity rates than other parts of the county, but has less access to vaccines.

"Other counties and cities have had mass vaccination clinics for months. Monterey County has announced partnerships with pharmacies and organizations such as CVS, Safeway and others to provide the vaccine, and none of them are in Seaside," the letter says.

The partnership with CVS Health is with the federal government, not Monterey County.

Oglesby also writes that the Seaside Fire Department is approved to distribute vaccines, but it has not received any information about when they may start. He writes in the letter that the City is prepared to staff a mass vaccination site with 24 hours notice.

"While we understand that there is a lack sufficient supply of vaccine, I respectfully ask that you evaluate the equitable distribution of vaccine for all the residents of Monterey County and, again, offer the services of Seaside staff to operate a mass vaccination site," the letter says.

This doesn't mean there have been no vaccine efforts in Seaside. Last week, the fire department assisted the clinic at the Greater Victory Temple Church with the Visiting Nurses Association.

Speaking with KION Monday night, councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem Dave Pacheco says "the more we solve our problem, it is just going to help others and help the Peninsula. We have a lot of low income people that have to use different forms of transportation," adding "if they can walk to their site, it will be much more available."

On Thursday, the Seaside City Council is scheduled to authorize the letter at its 7 p.m. meeting.

The zip code on the Monterey Peninsula with the highest number of cases is 93955, which has had 2,440 cases. The area includes much of Sand City and Seaside.