A bipartisan effort? Fresno-area politicians must keep pressure on for COVID vaccination site
A week ago The Bee’s Editorial Board called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to increase the number of COVID vaccine doses being allocated to Fresno County and surrounding areas because the region was woefully short of shots and yet has some of the most essential employees in the state — food and agriculture workers producing the food we all eat.
Newsom responded by more than doubling the doses for Fresno County, from 8,000 last week to 19,000 this week. County officials said there is no guarantee of future supplies, but they were thankful nonetheless and pledged to use every single dose.
News then broke this week that a Federal Emergency Management Agency mass vaccination site was coming to the Valley, and that it could be located in Fresno. Newsom traveled to Fresno Wednesday, ostensibly to announce that very thing. Such sites can process 6,000 shots a day. Yet any hopes were dampened, as Newsom could not say when and where such a site might happen; the governor said state officials were still in talks with their federal counterparts.
There is no question the Valley needs a FEMA mass vaccination like the ones now operating in Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego. To that end, Valley congressmen sent a letter to Newsom and the acting FEMA administrator on Wednesday calling for not just one FEMA site, but several, given the Valley’s critical need and its vital workforce of agriculture workers.
Signing the letter were Democrats Jim Costa of Fresno and Josh Harder of Modesto; and Republicans Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield (the House minority leader), Devin Nunes of Tulare and David Valadao of Hanford.
It was a rare occasion of bipartisan action by the Valley legislators that is worth acknowledging. Here is hoping the congressmen keep the pressure on because, as their letter shows, the Valley is indeed being shortchanged when it comes to COVID vaccines.
Behind on vaccinations
Citing data from the California Department of Health and Human Services, the congressmen indicate Los Angeles County has vaccinated 15,036 residents per 100,000, while Fresno County has administered shots to 12,829 per 100,000, which is a 14.7% lower rate. Stanislaus County is only marginally better, at 13% below L.A. County.
Alameda County, home to the FEMA site in Oakland, has given doses to 14,664 residents per 100,000. Kings County, by comparison, stands at just 6,840 per 100,000, a 53% lower rate. “Tulare, Kern, Merced and San Joaquin counties are likewise severely underserved, averaging 20 to 38 percent lower vaccination rates than Los Angeles or Alameda counties,” says the letter.
Nunes called on FEMA to act quickly. “As Governor Newsom attempts to reverse California’s abysmal vaccine rollout, it is imperative that the state work with FEMA to provide swift vaccine distribution to the Central Valley families and workers who risk their health to feed the nation.”
Valadao pointed to the need for more than one site: “The area’s rural communities are home to thousands of farmworkers who risk COVID-19 exposure every day to feed America. The unacceptably low vaccination rate in the Central Valley indicates that we desperately need multiple vaccination sites throughout the region.”
Biden, Newsom must act
Fresno County recently successfully completed a 3,000-dose project to vaccinate agricultural workers. The need is great, however, given that there are 70,000 of them. Many live in multiple-person households where transmission of infections occurs frequently.
Yet those very workers power a key industry. Fresno County is California’s top farming county, with $7.7 billion in gross revenues in 2019. The state also has seven of the top 10 agricultural producing counties in the country, including Fresno, Kern, Tulare and Merced.
Beyond agriculture, the Valley is home to some of the lowest-income residents of the state, with many lacking health insurance.
Additionally, Latinos make up the majority in the region, and account for a greater percentage of COVID deaths than their population. Getting vaccines administered to communities of color will meet state goals for equitable treatment as well as move California toward greater immunity to the virus.
The representatives’ letter is well-timed and well-intentioned. FEMA needs to open not just one, but several, mass vaccination sites in the Valley — and as fast as possible.
President Biden and Gov. Newsom, we are counting on you.