Merced College to host COVID-19 vaccine clinic. Here’s how to sign up
Merced College will soon host a mass COVID-19 vaccine clinic in partnership with UC Merced and Dignity Health, a college spokesperson said on Friday.
About 2,500 Pfizer vaccines will be distributed at Merced College’s gym for people who qualify, including workers in the state’s first COVID-19 tier and those 65 or older.
The details are still developing, according to Jill Cunningham, the associate vice president of external relations for Merced College.
“We’re providing our college and our nurses,” Cunningham said. “We feel like it’s part of our mission and obligation to give back to the community.”
To sign up to be notified when appointments are available, go to vaccinatemercedcounty.com/registration. For help, call the county at 209-381-1180.
Merced County
Like other counties in the central San Joaquin Valley, Merced County has gotten low numbers of the shots. The county had the third lowest amount of vaccines compared to its population in the state, according to health officials.
A total of 10,775 Phase 1A residents were fully vaccinated as of Jan. 25 in the county of 287,000, according to County Public Health’s numbers.
The county has the infrastructure to vaccinate 20,000 people a week if they could get that allocation, according to Merced County Supervisor Daron McDaniel.
“We don’t hold any back. We’re getting them right out,” he said. “We’re not getting the allocation we deserve.”
The Merced College clinic is additive, because those vaccines are not coming out of the county’s supply. McDaniel praised county CAO Jim Brown for his “out of the box” thinking.
“It shows a great collective effort to get more vaccines into Merced County,” McDaniel said.
The clinic at Merced College is expected to begin administering the COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, he said.
UC Merced
Employees of UC Merced have access to vaccines through the university, according to Andrew Boyd, the school’s chief resilience officer.
Employees who can get the shot under state protocols can sign up for the Moderna vaccine. The clinics were expected to start Friday.
“The University of California does not require employees be vaccinated, but highly recommends this step,” Boyd said in an email to employees.
Employees are asked to fill out a form online through their work portals.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 10:05 AM.
