Mass vaccination site for Fresno County not yet approved, despite Gavin Newsom visit
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said Fresno County will get support to ramp up its existing COVID vaccination sites — though the county has not yet been approved for a mass vaccination center like those seen in other parts of California.
Some reporting in Fresno had the city getting a mass site at the Save Mart Center, but that location has not yet gotten approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
A site to newly distribute vaccinations — though not a mass site — will be opened at a college in Fresno, Newsom said during a midday news conference at the Fresno Fairgrounds. His staffers clarified it would be at Reedley College in Fresno County.
That OptumServe site has only been previously providing tests. That site will start by administering 420 doses a day, which could begin Feb. 18, making it the first of the 20 Optum locations in the state to distribute vaccines, Newsom said.
Meanwhile, Fresno County’s allocation of vaccines was increased to 19,000 this week. Last week, the county got 8,000.
“It’s not enough, no one’s denying that,” Newsom said. “The issue of vaccines is an issue of available supply nationwide. The issue of scarcity is real.”
The state has recently announced mass sites in Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego capable of about 6,000 vaccinations a day.
An 85-year-old retired farmworker, Maria Suarez got a vaccine at the fairgrounds on Wednesday, which represented the state’s 5 millionth shot, Newsom said. The state has administered 1 million shots in each of the past two weeks.
“We’re sending them everywhere. They’re out,” Newsom said. “The state doesn’t hold one vaccine. There’s not a vial in any warehouse.”
Fresno County has administered 94,000 vaccines so far, according to local health officials. Leaders in Fresno and several San Joaquin Valley counties have pleaded with the state for more vaccines.
The shots going out at the Reedley site will come from the allocations Fresno County is already receiving. Newsom said other additive programs from the federal government, headed to pharmacies and distributed at a new community clinic, are forthcoming.
The state has begun to receive enough vaccines to begin to plan three weeks out. That, in turn, allows Fresno County to plan further out, according to Dr. Rais Vohra, the county’s interim health officer.
“We are hoping we can plan better with that three-week visibility as opposed to visibility of only one week,” he said.
The Reedley College vaccination site joins the Fresno Fairgrounds and Central High School in county-run clinics. Sierra Pacific Orthopedic is also distributing vaccines on a larger scale.
Protesters outside news conference
Newsom’s visit was not lauded by all of Fresno’s residents. A group of protesters held signs and chanted outside the fairgrounds before and while Newsom spoke. Sometimes using a megaphone, they called for a recall of the governor.
Protests are common in recent weeks for Newsom, whose potential recall has gained steam in recent months over dissatisfaction with Newsom’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer called for unity.
“The other thing that I have found that we need just as much as vaccines is unity,” he said. “In a time of crisis ... people either stand shoulder to shoulder and encourage one another, support one another, or they become divided and they begin to blame one another.”
Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, said state leaders are making tough decisions that aren’t popular, but the vaccine outlook will improve.
“It’s going to get better. It’s going to get better in the next two weeks and the next month and the next two months,” he said. “That’s why efforts here in Fresno County are so important, and in all the Valley counties.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 12:28 PM.
