Nation’s icy weather affects delivery of COVID-19 vaccine to Fresno. Here’s what it means
More than 40% of the coronavirus vaccine doses that Fresno County expected to receive this week have been delayed by cold weather that has brought some parts of the eastern and southern U.S. to a standstill.
Health officials don’t know when those precious doses will eventually arrive, the county’s vaccine coordinator said Thursday. But in the meantime, they’re scrambling to manage their existing supplies so clinics don’t have to cancel appointments for people who are already scheduled to get their COVID-19 shots.
“In Fresno County, there are 7,800 Moderna (vaccine) doses that have been impacted by cold weather conditions across the country and have not been delivered as of (Thursday) morning to various Fresno County sites,” said Joe Prado, community health manager for the Fresno County Department of Public Health.
“We do not have a date when these doses will be delivered. ... We are working with medical providers in the community to provide them with the necessary doses from our supply this week to avoid cancellation of appointments.”
The state Department of Public Health had allocated 18,000 doses of vaccine to Fresno County this week. That’s in addition to limited numbers of shots now being offered to the first two tiers of eligible residents – health care workers and senior citizens ages 65 and older – by pharmacy retailers CVS and Rite Aid, who are receiving their vaccine supplies directly from the federal government.
But sites that receive their allotted doses from the county include the mass-vaccination site at the Fresno Fairgrounds, as well as Sierra Pacific Orthopedic Center, medical offices and clinics including United Health Centers, county-run mobile clinics making the rounds of rural communities, and a new county outreach site at Gaston Middle School in southwest Fresno.
As of Wednesday night, more than 141,000 doses of vaccine had been shot into the arms of Fresno County residents, according to the California Department of Public Health. That’s an increase of about 6,000 compared to the prior day.
A shortage of vaccine allocations last month forced county health officials to scale back clinic operations at both the Fresno Fairgrounds in southeast Fresno and Sierra Pacific Orthopedic Center in northeast Fresno. At that point, Fresno County’s allocation from the state was limited to about 8,000 doses a week. Over the past two weeks, however, those allocations were increased substantially – 19,000 doses last week, 18,000 doses this week.
Coronavirus case updates
The news about the delay of vaccine shipments to California and the Fresno area came on the same day that the state Department of Public Health reported about 200 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed through testing since a Wednesday update.
With the addition of 192 new infections, 93,555 Fresno County residents have now tested positive at some point since the first local case of coronavirus was confirmed in early March, almost a year ago. Of those infected, 1,356 deaths are attributed to complications from COVID-19, health officials reported. The county acknowledged seven deaths late Thursday afternoon.
Elsewhere around the central San Joaquin Valley, county updates on Thursday included:
Kings County: 24 new cases, 21,770 to date; no additional deaths, 213 to date.
Madera County: 45 new cases, 15,118 to date; no additional deaths, 201 to date.
Mariposa County: One new case, 398 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Merced County: 79 new cases, 28,385 to date; two additional deaths, 384 to date.
Tulare County: 91 new cases, 47311 to date; 11 additional deaths, 717 to date.
With updates provided through mid-afternoon Thursday, the Valley has accumulated more than 206,000 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic reached the region 11 1/2 months ago, whether they experienced symptoms or not. Across the six counties, 2,878 deaths have been blamed on the coronavirus, based on causes of death reported on residents’ death certificates.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 2:30 PM.
