How do you get a COVID vaccination in Fresno? Some tips to understanding signup system
As community organizations, retail chain pharmacies, healthcare providers and others ramp up their capacity to provide coronavirus shots, the options available for Fresno County residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 continue to increase.
But that abundance continues to generate confusion for people who aren’t quite sure where to turn for their vaccine. The state’s fledgling MyTurn system, envisioned as something of a one-stop shop for making appointments for a shot for counties across the state, is experiencing growing pains. And even when it reaches maturity – expected in the next month or so – MyTurn likely still won’t be a comprehensive collection of all the outlets for coronavirus vaccines.
“Part of the state distribution plan is to bring everyone into the MyTurn platform. That is where you’re going to see the majority of the vaccines administered,” said Joe Prado, community health division manager for the Fresno County Department of Public Health.
“Until then, potentially April before we’re able to get MyTurn to a better place, our community is going to have to navigate our (county) website (and) click on our links to be able to register” with one of the entities that are providing the shots, he added.
“MyTurn, like any data system … you can launch it and then you’re just going to have to continually make adjustments to it, to adjust to the workflows that each of the counties have,” Prado said Tuesday in a briefing with reporters. “MyTurn gets worked on every day … on what can work more efficiently.”
In the meantime, retail pharmacy chains CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens each have their own websites and processes for people to make appointments. Sierra Pacific Orthopedic Center in northeast Fresno, one of the county’s larger vaccination partners, has its own registration. So does United Health Centers, which runs a vaccine clinic at Central High School west of Highway 99 in Fresno and at some of its medical offices. And the county’s own mass-vaccination site at the Fresno Fairgrounds is registering people through the MyTurn system.
The county’s vaccination website lists nearly 40 different locations across Fresno County that are providing coronavirus shots. That doesn’t include mobile clinics to rural communities. Nor does it count the major retail pharmacy chains: four CVS stores in Fresno; 14 Rite Aid stores in Fresno, Reedley, Kerman and Selma; and 20 Walgreens stores in Clovis, Fresno, Kingsburg, Reedley, Sanger and Selma – all of which require appointments and do not take walk-ins.
Prado said it’s still uncertain how many of these providers, and more to come, will ultimately be incorporated into MyTurn to simplify things for residents. “MyTurn may address 80% of it, but there still may be some segments that still have a different type of registration process,” he said.
Most of the providers request online registration to screen for eligibility and to make appointments. The state’s MyTurn system does offer a phone number, 833-422-4255, that people can call for help signing up if they don’t have computer access.
The current eligibility for vaccines includes health care and emergency service workers; people age 65 and older; education and childcare employees; and workers in the agriculture and food industries, including farms, food processing plants, restaurants, grocers and other parts of the food supply chain.
Starting on March 15, eligibility will be expanded even further to include people who have chronic illnesses or conditions that put them at high risk for complications from COVID-19 and who are between the ages of 16 and 64.
Tuesday coronavirus updates
Fresno County on Tuesday reported 129 new coronavirus cases confirmed through testing. Almost 96,000 residents have at some point been infected with the virus in the 362 days since the first local case in the global pandemic was reported in the county.
Over the past seven days, an average of 156 new cases have been reported each day in Fresno County.
No additional deaths were reported by the county’s health department on Tuesday. The cumulative toll of fatalities attributed to COVID-19 by health officials is 1,451.
In neighboring central San Joaquin Valley counties, updates included:
Kings County: Nine new cases, 22,091 to date; no additional deaths, 220 to date. The county’s totals include more than 7,200 cases and 17 deaths among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 23 new cases, 15,452 to date; no additional deaths, 214 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases as of Tuesday afternoon, 395 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Merced County: 48 new cases, 29,195 to date; five additional deaths, 405 to date.
Tulare County: 73 new cases, 48,086 to date; five additional deaths, 766 to date.
Over the course of the past year, almost 211,000 residents in the six-county region have had COVID-19, whether they became sick or never showed symptoms but remained capable of spreading the virus. Of those, 3,063 people have lost their lives to the disease.
