Placer County to temporarily close COVID vaccination site — for an ‘anime swap meet’?

In a stunning display of misplaced priorities, Placer County will close its main county-run vaccination center this Thursday and Friday to instead host an “anime swap meet.” Anime, a style of Japanese animation, is popular in the United States — thousands of people attended SacAnime’s January 2020 convention.

The event is scheduled to run April 2-4 at Roseville’s Placer County Fairgrounds — which recently underwent a questionable rebranding to just “@ the Grounds.”

April 1 and 2, the two days The Grounds will close to accommodate the event, are also the first two days of the largest shift in vaccine access in California since individuals age 65 and over were prioritized.

California is trying to mass vaccinate its population before new and worrisome COVID variants become even more of a threat. Time is of the essence.

“The Grounds clinic, which doesn’t usually operate on weekends, will therefore be closed the first four days of statewide 50-to-64 eligibility,” wrote Bee reporter Mike McGough.

According to a Facebook message from SacAnime staff, The Grounds’ vaccination clinic “never had plans to be open during the scheduled time, and declined our offer to restrict our event space so they could remain open.”

If this is the case, why is The Grounds so determined to follow through with this Anime swap meet? The Grounds General Manager Charlie Gardner said in a press release the event was scheduled last year, according to ABC10.

“We’ve adjusted the clinic schedule to help accommodate those seeking vaccinations, while also meeting a long-standing agreement with an event organizer,” the press release said.

Long-standing agreements mean nothing during a pandemic — folks have had to cancel surgeries, weddings and retirements planned out months or years in advance. The Grounds’ decision to move forward with the swap meet at the expense of two days’ worth of precious vaccination opportunities is truly appalling.

Placer County spokeswoman Katie Combs-Prichard told The Bee via email that the clinic will extend its hours Monday through Wednesday to compensate for the closures.

“Combs-Prichard said about 90% of this week’s roughly 5,400 appointments at The Grounds are second-dose appointments, ‘so closure or not, the impact on first dose appointments available in that time window is not very large,’ she wrote,” McGough reported.

But there should be zero impacts on vaccination appointments unless something even more urgent and dire than a global pandemic forces rescheduling. And needless to say, a swap meet doesn’t meet that criteria.

SacAnime fans have rightfully voiced criticism about plans to proceed with the event.

“I like SacAnime. I had a great time a couple of years ago when I went with some friends. But forcing a covid vaccination site to close for a weekend just so you can hold an ill-advised and dangerous ‘swap meet’ means I’ll never support SacAnime ever again. And you can rest assured I’ll be telling everyone I know to do the same,” wrote one Facebook user on SacAnime’s page for the event.

“I’m so glad an anime convention is being held in the same area they’re administering vaccines,” commented another person. “Bonus points for delaying my 2nd dose past the recommended 28 days.”

One obvious and striking irony is the decision to postpone vaccinations in favor of a multi-day, in-person event just as Placer County moves into the less restrictive red tier. Although the event will require face masks and observe social distancing protocols, more than 100 vendors and cosplayers are expected.

Talk about tempting fate.

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, expressed a feeling of “impending doom” over fears the U.S. is opening up too quickly as cases and hospitalizations have slowly begun to rise.

Whether the Grounds clinic would have closed with or without the anime convention is moot. What it boils down to is this: The decision to close the county’s largest vaccination site — a site administering life-saving, pandemic-ending vaccines — for an in-person gathering during a COVID pandemic was clearly a bad idea.

Ideally, SacAnime would reschedule this event at a later date and at a different site — like everyone else has for the past year. Moving forward, Placer County must take a hard look at its priorities. County officials should be doing absolutely everything in their power to get Placer residents vaccinated as quickly and as efficiently as possible.