A lot has changed since Fresno County first started receiving doses of the two different COVID-19 vaccines.
Last month as the coronavirus pandemic continued to rage on in Fresno County, The Fresno Bee asked readers to submit questions about COVID-19 in Fresno. Nearly all the questions asked were about vaccines.
The Bee already published one story answering the questions. But the vaccine situation in Fresno has constantly changed since then.
These answers come mostly from the website on vaccines assembled by the Fresno County Department of Public Health. The health department also created a handy graphic that outlines the tier system and timeline for vaccine eligibility.
The schedule for COVID-19 vaccination in Fresno County as of Jan. 14, 2020. Fresno County Department of Public Health
My elderly parents live with me. They are worried they will be turned away because they don’t have proof of residency. How can they prove they are eligible?
They will not be turned away. As long as people meet the eligibility requirements, such as age or job sector, Fresno County will vaccinate them.
“There’s no political boundary for this particular virus,” said Joe Prado, who is leading Fresno County’s vaccine effort. “So we want to make sure people who work in our community and people who visit our community, or they have family here — we want to make sure we vaccinate them.”
Dr. Rais Vohra, Fresno County’s interim health officer, noted that if people who live three hours away come to Fresno to get vaccinated, they’ll have to return a few weeks later for the second dose.
“We want to be as sensitive as we can to that older population, and we understand that some people have special circumstances,” Vohra said. “We need them to plan ahead so that they can make the best choice about exactly when and where to get their vaccine.”
When will people with underlying medical conditions be able to get the vaccine?
The Fresno County Department of Public Health hasn’t been promised a month’s worth of doses so is assessing the vaccines weekly, according to Prado, community health division manager for the department. That makes it difficult to project when the county will open up vaccines to more groups of people.
“We are basically going from week to week,” he said. “Until we’re really able to get a stable type of planning for number of doses, it’s going to be difficult week to week to really make any significant movements into another tier.”
Will the process for obtaining a second dose of a vaccine be affected by possible shortages?
Fresno County has directed providers that for every first dose they administer, they should hold onto the same number of second doses. This way, everyone who received a first dose will still have access to the second dose.
Fresno County and other providers last month stopped administering first doses to ensure there were enough second doses for those who needed them.
I am 78 and my husband is 82. Where can I get the vaccine?
Starting the week of Feb. 15, you can get your first dose at the Fresno County Fairgrounds.
For more information on the COVID-19 Vaccine, please contact the provider line Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 559-600-3332.
Other providers, such as Sierra Pacific Orthopedics and United Health Centers, may also start administering first doses again as supplies become available. Check their websites, or give them a call. Sierra Orthopedics can be reached at 559-943-1248 and United Health Centers can be reached at 800-492-4227.
United Health Centers is scheduled to begin administering first doses again the week of Feb. 8 at Central High School. Sierra Pacific Orthopedics is scheduled to mostly administer second doses, but the medical center may begin to administer some first doses, as well.
How long is the vaccine effective? Do I need to get the shot every year?
Unfortunately, there’s not a good answer for this. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says experts don’t know how long immunity lasts after vaccination until more data is available.
“Experts are working to learn more about both natural immunity and vaccine-induced immunity. CDC will keep the public informed as new evidence becomes available,” the CDC website says.
Where can seniors get vaccinated if they can’t stand in line or wait in their car for four hours?
Fresno County health officials identified this as an issue at the Fresno Fairgrounds vaccine clinic and made some adjustments, Prado said.
Instead of standing in line, the clinic asked residents to show up to their appointment early and wait in their car. Once it was 30 minutes before their appointment, residents were asked to walk up and check in. The first week, the turnaround time for vaccination at the fairgrounds was around 45 minutes, Prado said.
For second doses, that time has been reduced to about 30 minutes, he said.
The county’s vaccination site for In Home Supportive Services is handicap accessible and friendlier to older adults, Prado said.
The next county site to launch, at Gaston Middle School in west Fresno, also will be friendlier to older adults, he said.
How long after the three weeks wait for the second dose of Pfizer can one wait?
The recommended length of time to wait for the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine is 21 days.
Why, at the present times, are there only two areas where vaccines are given?
Slowly but surely, more providers are coming online to administer vaccines.
In Fresno County, there’s the Fresno Fairgrounds, Sierra Pacific Orthopedic and the United Health Centers clinic at Central High School. Soon, at least one CVS Pharmacy location in Clovis will begin giving the shots. Plus, Fresno County is planning to open another vaccine site at Gaston Middle School in west Fresno.
Where can I register online?
If you’d like to be notified when you or your family members are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, you can fill out the COVID-19 vaccine interest form on the Fresno County Department of Public Health’s website.
If you’re already eligible, you can register for an appointment online when they become available. Fresno County is scheduled to begin administering first doses of the vaccine again the week of Feb. 15. Keep an eye on the website for appointment registration to begin.
Will drinking alcoholic beverages after getting vaccinated nullify the immunity effect of the vaccine?
Researchers and health officials in Russia and the United Kingdom warned against heavy drinking after receiving the vaccine because heavy alcohol consumption generally weakens the immune system. But vaccine developers said people who are vaccinated don’t have to give it up completely.
U.S. health officials and officials with the CDC haven’t made such recommendations.
Where is information for vaccinated retired nurses to sign up to help with vaccinations?
Where can I preschedule an appointment to get the second COVID-19 vaccine shot?
This information is available on the Fresno County Health Department’s website.
According to the website and county officials, Fresno County residents who received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Big Fresno Fair Vaccination Clinic (from Jan. 6-21) will be notified via phone (voice), email address and mobile text to remind them of their scheduled second dose. Those who received their first dose on Jan. 22 or Jan. 23 should have scheduled their second dose during their visit.
The majority of second-dose appointments for the Pfizer vaccine recipients will be for a date 21 days after the first dose. This appointment will be scheduled for the same time as the first dose.
Residents who received the Moderna vaccine (on Jan. 6 or Jan. 7) will be consolidated into one day with scheduled appointments as close as possible to their previously scheduled first dose appointment.
The county has created a schedule for second-dose vaccines.
Residents who received first doses of Moderna vaccines should have returned for their second dose already.
Residents who received the first doses of Pfizer vaccines on Jan. 18 or later should return for their second dose starting Feb. 8. The clinic at the fairgrounds runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
Follow More of Our Reporting on Coronavirus in California
Brianna Vaccari covers Fresno City Hall for The Bee, where she works to hold public officials accountable and shine a light on issues that deeply affect residents’ lives. She previously worked for The Bee’s sister paper, the Merced Sun-Star, and earned her bachelor’s degree from Fresno State.
