Marin County Reassigns Employees To Vaccinate Residents

SAN RAFAEL, CA — To help strengthen Marin County's vaccine rollout, employees of several different county sectors are being reassigned to assist in inoculating residents "as quickly as possible," according to a Monday statement from the county.

The county aims to vaccinate all of its willing 260,000 residents and has plans to offer up to 500,000 over the next few months, according to Dr. Matt Willis, the county's public health officer.

Marin County Parks will task some of its staff to assist at vaccination centers throughout the county, temporarily reducing staff at Marin County Open Space District preserves.

"This is all hands on deck," Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber said.

Marin County Fire is deploying existing full-time staff, seasonal staff, newly hired paramedics and newly hired firefighters and EMTs. Some recent retirees will also help with the vaccine rollout.

"As supplies slowly ramp up, we’re grateful to see so many County employees responding to the call," Willis said. "We’ve got the troops ready to get shots into arms across Marin."

Staffers from all 22 county departments have collaborated with the Emergency Operations Center, contributing employees to work as disaster service workers, according to the county's statement.

One employee, Max Korten of Marin County Parks, has reportedly spent most of the year working closely with local businesses to set coronavirus safety guidelines. He is also one of the hundreds of Marin staffers to become a disaster service worker.

"I am proud that our staff are stepping up to do this critically important work,” Korten said. “Employees are being asked to contribute in ways that they normally wouldn’t have before the pandemic. We realize that nothing is a higher priority right now than stopping the spread of COVID-19."

Many of these employees have been reassigned from their regular duties to help the county get through the coronavirus pandemic. This work has included food distribution and routing residents to temporary housing and rental assistance services.

County employees will be assigned to the Marin Center vaccination site in San Rafael.

The county's human resources department has reportedly helped to coordinate the recruitment effort of county employees. About 30 to 85 percent of the department's staff has been helping with the effort on top of their normal workload.

"Our top priority is vaccinating our residents," said County Administrator Matthew Hymel in a statement. "When the vaccine supply increases, we stand ready to ensure that the supply is quickly utilized."