Gov. Newsom gets booster shot at Alameda County health clinic

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. -- Governor Gavin Newsom paid a visit to a health clinic in Oakland's Chinatown to promote COVID vaccine booster shots for all those eligible in California.

Newsom chose to mix and match, he got the Moderna booster Wednesday after receiving the Johnson and Johnson shot earlier this year. Newsom also got his flu shot last week by the way.

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"First of all, mixing and matching is something we do commonly with vaccines," explained Dr. Mark Ghaly M.D., Secretary of CA Health and Human Services, who administered the booster shot to Newsom. "A lot of people when you walk into your doctor's office, whoever tells you what the manufacturer of your vaccine is?"

Boosters are not yet available to those who had Moderna or Pfizer initially unless they are over age 65 or in certain limited categories.

Still, the vast majority of eligible Californians over age 18 have received at least one dose.

"If you are one of the roughly only 10% of Oaklanders who have not gotten at least one vaccination shot, please give your loved ones a boost, your community a boost, by getting vaccinated," said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.

RELATED: CDC endorses booster doses of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, says mix and match is fine

While the governor clearly wanted to celebrate high vaccination rates in places like Oakland, he also acknowledged, there's work to be done when it comes to fulfilling his own vaccine mandate for state workers.

The implementation of the testing requirement for the unvaccinated also remains spotty in many departments.

"I like the fact that we're at almost 67%," said Newsom. "I like the fact that some departments are at 90%. I'm confident we'll work together and we'll continue to show the way."

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Newsom did not say whether he might follow the lead of Governor Jay Inslee in Washington state, where nearly 2,000 state workers who refused to get vaccinated lost their jobs.

The governor did warn all Californians not to let their guard down heading into the winter months, concerned that COVID rates could spike again like they did last year.

VACCINE TRACKER: How California is doing, when you can get a coronavirus vaccine

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