Stanislaus County opens new COVID vaccine clinics in Modesto, Turlock. How they will work
Stanislaus County unveiled details of two new COVID-19 vaccination sites to expand the reach of its campaign to battle the coronavirus.
Starting next week, Modesto Centre Plaza and California State University, Stanislaus, in Turlock will host vaccination clinics to speed the fight against the pandemic. This past week a single site on Scenic Drive in Modesto was opened which saw hundreds of people in eligible groups line up to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.
The Modesto Centre Plaza clinic, at 1000 L St., will open Monday, Jan. 18, and operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The new Modesto Centre Plaza clinic will replace the Scenic Drive clinic.
The Turlock site will open the following day, Tuesday, Jan. 19, in the Fitzpatrick Arena at Stanislaus State, 1 University Circle. It will have longer hours than the Modesto site, operating 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week including holidays through July 31.
Both new clinics will be first-come, first-served to the those eligible to receive the shots. The ramped-up vaccinations come as the county’s infections continue to surge. On Saturday, the county reported 655 new cases and nine deaths.
County officials have also talked about coronavirus vaccination hubs for Oakdale and Patterson to serve residents in the eastern and western sections of the county, respectively.
The county is administering vaccine to health care workers and other eligible people in the Phase 1A priority group, including seniors age 65 and older. The local clinics administer vaccine for Stanislaus County residents or health care staff who work in the county.
A policy turns away any residents of other counties who get in line.
The county has also supplied some vaccine to medical offices for vaccinating patients and staff and is working with a number of pharmacies that can administer the shots.
Save Mart announced Friday it was scheduling appointments for eligible people, including healthcare workers and seniors 65 years and older, to receive a COVID-19 vaccination at selected pharmacies in Modesto, Ceres, Riverbank and Patterson. The supermarket chain said it received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine and was working with the county to administer it safely.
A news release said Save Mart’s pharmacists are trained to administer COVID vaccines; they routinely provide annual flu shots and other vaccinations to customers. There is no charge to the recipient for the COVID vaccine.
Eligible residents can call to make an appointment at these Save Mart pharmacies: 2100 Standiford Ave. in Modesto 209-577-1350; 3601 Pelandale Avenue, Modesto 209-545-1385; 2916 E. Whitmore Ave. in Ceres 209-566-7485; 1035 Sperry Ave., Patterson 209-892-4545; and 2237 Claribel Road, Riverbank 209-863-1483.
Pharmacy hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The pharmacies were receiving a high volume of calls, a Save Mart representative said.
Luis Uribe, vice mayor of Riverbank, said he has started to work on getting a vaccination site for that city.
“We have not been contacted by the county yet,” Uribe said. “We think it’s important to have one in each city so it’s accessible to everybody. Some of our residents would not be able to make it to Oakdale.”
While the county is working on additional opportunities for people to get vaccinated, it is limited by the amount of vaccine it can order from the state.
“Each week we should see progress as long as we can get the vaccine,” said Mary Ann Lilly, managing director of the county Health Services Agency. “We can vaccinate more people than the (amount of) vaccine we are getting from the state.”
Lilly said the county has enough vaccine on hand to get started with the new clinic sites. An additional 3,500 doses have been ordered for the coming week, she said, but the county has not received it yet.
Top county officials also have concern about slow progress in a federal program that aims to vaccinate vulnerable residents and staff members in assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. There are about 225 to 250 of those facilities within the county.
The county clinic at 830 Scenic Drive in Modesto administered 1,662 first-dose coronavirus shots Friday and 1,630 on Thursday. Those getting the first dose are given a vaccine card scheduling them for the second one.
Some health care offices were reporting difficulties in getting vaccine for staff members who risk infection as they work closely with patients.
Paulette Singh, a medical assistant for Dr. Mark Mehrany, said the Modesto practice jumped through the hoops for two weeks to get approved for coronavirus vaccine though the state’s Cal Vax provider system.
Singh said the county told them Wednesday the office staff was too small to have vaccine delivered for inoculating the four or five staff members. They were directed to the county vaccination clinic on Scenic Drive, where Friday morning they found a thousand people in lines waiting for shots.
Some people in line arrived before dawn in hopes of getting access to the limited amount of vaccine. Rather than wait for hours, Singh said, they returned to the medical office to see patients who had appointments.
Singh said many of the patients are older people seeking treatment for skin cancer and are vulnerable to a serious bout with the COVID-19 respiratory illness. The physician and staff wear masks and take other precautions, but they can’t avoid close contact with the patients during outpatient surgery.
“We have six cases per day in surgery,” Singh said. “We are in close contact with patients every day.”
Lilly said there is not a minimum size for medical offices to qualify for vaccine for inoculating staff. She said most offices approved by the state don’t want the five-doses-per-vial Pfizer vaccine because of the extreme cold storage requirements.
The Moderna vaccine comes with 10 doses per vial and none can be wasted, Lilly said, in explaining why Mehrany’s small staff was likely directed to the Scenic clinic. Some small offices partner with another practice to use all the vaccine, which has to be injected within six hours of opening the vial.
Lilly said the county agency still wants medical and dental offices to go through Cal Vax for their vaccine needs. County staff will try to contact Mehrany’s office, she said.
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 2:22 PM.
