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SAN DIEGO – Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) now offers online appointment scheduling to qualifying beneficiaries for the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine through the hospital’s public website beginning Mar. 25.
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) authorized NMCSD to move into tier 1C, which expands vaccination appointments to Department of Defense (DOD) beneficiaries over the age of 65 and ages 16-64 with high risk medical conditions as defined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Additionally, DHA has authorized DOD beneficiaries who are involved with child education, as defined by the CDC, to receive vaccines.
“As of this morning, the Office of Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) has granted NMCSD to begin tier 1C operations, which opens up vaccinations to more beneficiaries who qualify,” said Cmdr. Clayton Rau, NMCSD’s COVID-19 Vaccine Operations department head. “For those who are eligible, they are able to go onto our command’s website, and schedule an appointment to receive their vaccine dose.”
The appointment availability will be updated weekly. Beneficiaries can log onto the portal and once they select San Diego, can answer qualification questions and schedule their vaccine dose based on supply and availability. Active duty service members, DOD employees and contractors will still receive their vaccine, as Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet coordinates their scheduling.
“There are three points of distribution (POD) sights currently,” said Rau. “Naval Base San Diego (NBSD) and Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI) are strictly for active duty, DOD employees and contractors. Naval Base Point Loma has a POD for eligible beneficiaries. We hope to convert NBSD and NASNI to also accept beneficiary appointments, as well as open a fourth POD sometime in the future.”
The Defense Health Agency appointment portal will help mitigate wait times at vaccine sites, since appointments are now scheduled online.
NMCSD’s COVID-19 Vaccine Operations team will be making updates to the website as often as possible.
Rau said that his team will vaccinate as many people that want the vaccine as possible.
“We are using all of our doses,” said Rau. “We are using everything as quickly as possible and pushing them out. Everything gets used within a week. This is why we book [appointments] week-to-week and avoid running out.”
NMCSD’s Vaccine Operations team is operating at its maximum capacity and is only limited by the amount of vaccine doses the hospital receives. Eligible beneficiaries can visit sandiego.tricare.mil to schedule a vaccination appointment.
NMCSD's mission is to prepare service members to deploy in support of operational forces, deliver high quality healthcare services, and shape the future of military medicine through education, training, and research. NMCSD employs more than 6,000 active duty military personnel, civilians, and contractors in Southern California to provide patients with world-class care anytime, anywhere.
Visit navy.mil or facebook.com/NMCSD for more information.
| Date Taken: | 03.25.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.26.2021 17:08 |
| Story ID: | 392301 |
| Location: | SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 733 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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