Fresno County immediately opens COVID-19 vaccine availability to anyone 16 and up
A lull in demand for coronavirus vaccines in recent days is prompting the Fresno County Department of Public Health to immediately expand eligibility for shots to anyone age 16 and up.
“There’s a lull in the system” this week, said Joe Prado, community health manager for the county agency, said Thursday. “We’ve made thousands of appointments available, and there are still thousands of appointments available today, and we’re seeing that all around the system.”
The slowdown in people clamoring for vaccines is giving the county confidence that it can accelerate eligibility almost a week before the state of California opens vaccines to everyone who is at least 16 years old on April 15.
The state’s MyTurn system for registering for appointments will reflect the expanded eligibility starting late Thursday night, Prado said.
Prado added that parental consent is required for 16- or 17-year-olds. Of the three vaccines that have been granted emergency-use authorization, only the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for people under 18 years old. Prado said that parents should check with a clinic to ensure they are providing the Pfizer doses when registering for an appointment.
Fresno County becomes the latest Valley county to expand vaccine eligibility, following Tulare, Madera and Kings counties in opening the shots to anyone 16 and older.
Reaching herd immunity
In December, when the first vaccines became available, Prado said the county set a goal of providing 1.2 million doses for residents – enough shots for 60% of the population – by the end of August. Despite the letup in demand that became apparent this week, “we’re still pretty much on track to meet that,” Prado added. “It’s going to be key to keep the momentum going. It’s going to be hard to get to that last 400,000 or 500,000 doses.”
Dr. Rais Vohra, the county’s interim health officer, said opening shots for anyone 16 and older, regardless of their occupation or health conditions, “will certainly help drive in more people to get their vaccine.”
But, he added, “the low-hanging fruit has been picked. Now the fruit is harder and harder to get at, in terms of getting people in to get their vaccine.”
Vohra acknowledged the challenges in reaching the critical mass of having enough residents vaccinated to assure a level of “herd immunity” that will make it harder for the virus to be spread from person to person.
“We know there is a fair amount of hesitancy and skepticism,” he said. “How do we convince people? How do we actually get through the skepticism and hesitancy that is actually going to impede our ability to get to herd immunity as fast as we can?”
For some, he suggested, it will take an appeal for a return to pre-pandemic conditions. “If we want to get back to normal, the light is at the end of the tunnel,” Vohra said, “and we can actually make this tunnel a lot shorter if we all just get vaccinated.”
The state Department of Public Health reported Thursday that more than 475,000 Fresno County residents have received at least one dose of vaccine. Of those people, almost 177,000 – or just over 17% of the county’s overall population – are now “fully vaccinated,“ receiving both doses of the two-shot vaccines manufactured by either Pfizer or Moderna, or one shot of the single-dose product from Janssen/Johnson & Johnson.
Statewide, about 20.1% of the overall population is now fully vaccinated.
Vohra said opening the doors to everyone age 16 and up means “you don’t have any excuses anymore” to avoid the shots.
“The vaccines work marvelously,” he said, “and it doesn’t matter which one you get … in terms of being able to protect you and your family from getting hospitalized and going on to have even worse complications like a fatality.”
To date, Vohra and Prado said, fewer than 1% of people who have received a coronavirus shot in Fresno County have contracted the virus – even better than the efficacy rates reported by the vaccine manufacturers in their clinical trials.
“Even though there are a few people getting infections, they seem to be very mild infections,” Vohra added, “and your odds of getting an infection are so much lower after you’ve been vaccinated.”
Thursday’s coronavirus updates
Fresno County reported 51 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, pushing to 99,865 the number of people who have been infected by the coronavirus since the first cases 13 months ago. “We are inching toward that somewhat dubious achievement of 100,000 cases,” Vohra said. “We’re on the cusp of reaching six figures.”
No additional deaths were reported as of mid-afternoon Thursday in Fresno County. To date, the death toll stands at 1,597.
Elsewhere around the Valley, counties’ reports on Thursday included:
Kings County: No new cases, 22,676 to date; no additional deaths, 243 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: 13 new cases, 16,015 to date; no additional deaths, 236 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases as of Thursday morning, 415 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Merced County: 17 new cases, 39,985 to date; five additional deaths, 447 to date.
Tulare County: 14 new cases, 49,202 to date; three additional deaths, 817 to date.
This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 1:55 PM.
