Fresno County getting coronavirus vaccines in December, city councilmembers say
Fresno County expects to get 100,000 vaccinations for the coronavirus by mid-December, according to city leaders who met with Fresno County health officials this week.
The limited vaccinations would be given out in waves first to frontline workers, nursing home employees and other vulnerable patients, according to Fresno City Council members Miguel Arias, Esmeralda Soria and Luis Chavez.
The vaccinations are expected to be delivered to Fresno County Department of Public Health officials by Dec. 15, assuming everything remains on schedule, the council members said.
“This is not going to be widely available to people,” Chavez said. “We still need to encourage people to practice social distancing, use masks (and) sanitizers. It’s our light at the end of the tunnel.”
Fresno County has seen 34,858 positive cases of the virus and 463 deaths related to it, according to health officials.
After several weeks, the vaccinations could be made available to people with preexisting conditions, Chavez said.
Fresno County Interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra met Monday with Chavez, Soria, Arias and other city officials. Other representatives involved were from UCSF, United Health Centers, Building Healthy Communities and the Fresno County Economic Opportunity Commission, the council members said.
Vohra could not be reached by mid-afternoon Wednesday for comment on the vaccinations, but during a call with reporters Tuesday afternoon said the county has space to store 100,000 doses.
It was not immediately clear if the vaccine would come from Pfizer or Moderna — two drug companies that have reported successful testing.
Fresno City Council on Thursday will consider amendments to contracts that already exist with health care providers and nonprofits that conduct contact tracing.
Arias said the contracts, if amended, would allow some of the contractors conducting tests to switch over to distributing the vaccine.
“We’re just trying to provide whatever help we can,” Arias said.
The amendments would also extend those contracts to the end of February, which could be an issue for CARES Act spending that is supposed to be complete by the end of December.
Soria said the contract with United Health Centers could also expand testing, possibly using the Fresno Fairgrounds twice a week to test 1,500 people per day. Testing is one method that could help the county move from the most restrictive purple tier to less-restrictive red.
“If we are able to keep our numbers down, it helps small business stay open or re-open,” Soria said.
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 6:16 PM.
