Fresno County to start closing COVID mass-vaccination clinics. What happens after that?
Almost three-quarters of a million doses of coronavirus vaccine have been administered to Fresno County residents — but the pace of giving shots has slowed to a relative trickle in recent weeks compared to a few months ago.
With demand continuing to fall, the county expects to close up shop by the end of June for most of the large-scale vaccination clinic sites that were established since December, said Joe Prado, assistant director of the Fresno County Department of Public Health.
Instead, the county will be shifting its vaccine efforts to mobile clinics and special pop-up activities at events in rural communities.
“Our mass vaccination sites in the rural areas, we’re going to be running those to the end of June,” he said. “We’re going to be working with our city partners to identify which particular week in the month makes the most sense to them, for utilizing their facilities.”
In the city of Fresno, the county’s Sunnyside clinic in southeast Fresno will also close by the end of June. Meanwhile, no decision has been made on when vaccine operations will be ramped down at the Fresno Fairgrounds.
“Right now they’re running at 200 to 300 doses per day” at the fairgrounds, Prado said. That compares to earlier this year, when the fairgrounds site was set up to provide 1,500 or more shots per day, and most daily appointments were quickly filled as soon as slots opened up.
“We’re going to see what happens in June and see if we make any adjustments at the fairgrounds,” Prado said.
Other methods being used
As demand for shots has declined, the county has turned to other strategies to reach unvaccinated residents. Special events have been held at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo and with the Fresno Grizzlies minor-league baseball team.
Prado said he expects June to be a busy month with other activities. “We have multiple clinics being organized with our churches, at a swap meet, partnering with local Street Eats to do some vaccine clinics,” he said. “We’re working with some local businesses and have multiple school sites where we’re going to be popping up and doing some of these mobile clinics.”
One factor in the decision to close down the large-scale rural sites, such as Mendota or Selma which were capable of offering hundreds of shots each day, is other options for residents in those towns.
“A lot of these communities have, at a minimum, a (medical) clinic site or pharmacy or multiple sites where people could get vaccinated,” Prado said. “But we’re still going to be doing mobile clinics in those places to make sure we cover those populations.”
While the number of new coronavirus cases popping up each day is dramatically lower than the peak of a winter surge in January, health officials will be keeping a close eye on case rates countywide and in individual communities.
“We’re closing sites in June, (but) we’re going to be watching the data on a weekly basis,” Prado said. “If we see an uptick, we will start back up. … We’re able to ramp right back up if needed.”
The Fresno County Department of Public Health has a list of vaccine clinics and events on its website at www.fcdph.org/covid19vax.
