Mountain View, Calif. – After three years, more than 63,000 vaccines and 53,000 tests, the El Camino Healthcare District voted Tuesday to replace its successful COVID-19 testing and vaccination program with a stockpile of at-home test kits available to community residents who are unable to purchase or receive test kits through other means.
The District invested more than $1.4 million toward its testing and vaccination program, which will end April 15, when 500 at-home antigen test kits will become available to community members.
"It was money well-spent and the fact that we can now wind this effort down is really a cause for celebration," said Julia Miller, chair of the El Camino Healthcare District board. "We were able to help tens of thousands of community members. That's why we're here."
The decision to end testing comes one month after California lifted its COVID State of Emergency and Santa Clara County ended its mass vaccine and testing site. Health care providers and pharmacies throughout Santa Clara County now have enough capacity to provide residents with access to testing and vaccinations.
Testing, vaccines and therapeutic treatments are still available at El Camino Health's outpatient pharmacies.
The El Camino Hospital District was established by voter approval in 1956 in accordance with California Local Hospital District Law. The purpose of the district is to establish, maintain and operate or provide assistance in the operation of health facilities and other health care services, provider groups and organizations that are necessary for the maintenance of good physical and mental health in the communities served by the district. The district, now known as El Camino Healthcare District, encompasses most of Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills; a large portion of Sunnyvale, and small sections of Cupertino, Santa Clara, and Palo Alto. The publicly elected El Camino Healthcare District Board of Directors approves tax dollar expenditures, including expenditures for the award-winning Community Benefit program. Community Benefit funds are granted each year to local nonprofits, schools and government programs that provide critical health services to the underserved. All district board meetings are publicly noticed, open to the public, and available for viewing on the district website.