Looking straight into the camera, Dr. Rais Vohra deviated from his usual introductory greeting at Friday’s weekly COVID-19 media briefing and apologized to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. A week prior on Sep. 17, the county's interim health officer talked about the adverse effects of climate change during a...
Fresno County Ships Out 70% of COVID-19 Vaccines Due to Lack of Interest
The lull Fresno County Health officials spoke of about a week ago has now turned into a scramble to find ways to entice people into getting a COVID-19 vaccine. The Fresno County Department of Public Health re-allocated 70% of the 43,000 doses it received last week to other counties. The...
‘Thousands’ of Local Vaccination Slots Open as Eligibility Expands to 16
Anyone 16 years and older can get Pfizer vaccines, and those 18 years and older can get either the Moderna or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Fresno County officials announced Thursday. Occupational and age restrictions have been lifted in order to fill all open appointment slots and to ensure all...
More Contagious California Strain of COVID Found in Fresno County
The strain of COVID-19 known as the California variant is more contagious and may lead to more severe disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And unfortunately for Fresno County, the variant is here. This week, California officials told the Fresno County Health Department that four cases of...
Nearby Counties Set to Move Into Red Tier. What About Fresno?
The California Department of Public Health today announced that 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Californians in some of the state’s hardest-hit communities, increasing immunity where the state's transmission rates and disease burden have been the highest during the pandemic. With that goal met, the state...
COVID Variant Testing in Fresno County is Elusive. ‘I Wish I Had Better News’ Says Vohra
When Governor Gavin Newsom visited the Fresno County Fairgrounds on Feb. 10 he brought with him news of a new COVID-19 variant found in Southern California. “We have the first reported cases of South African variants. Two cases have been reported through Stanford, one in Alameda County and one in...
Newsom Says He’s ‘Struggling’ to Get a FEMA Mass Vaccination Site in the Central Valley
The behind the scenes lobbying effort to get a FEMA mass vaccination site in the Central Valley hasn't garnered fruit, at least not yet. California quickly received two of the federally supported sites in Oakland and Los Angeles last month. Gov. Gavin Newsom, visiting a vaccination site in Earlimart this...
Availability of ‘One Shot’ J&J Vaccine in Fresno County Will Be Limited for Several Weeks
It's the one shot 'game changer' that many in the Fresno County Department of Public Health have been waiting for. But officials now say they're not sure how much of the newly authorized Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is coming into the county next week. Even after that, they say...
County Opens More Vaccination Appointments as Allocation Increases
California is set to receive more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine next week and Fresno County will be getting a bigger share, as well, officials announced during a Friday call with reporters. 21,000 doses of vaccine are headed to the county, which is 2,000 more than the prior week. The...
California Will Send Fewer COVID-19 Vaccine Doses to Fresno County Next Week
Gov. Gavin Newsom insisted the Central Valley is a priority for his administration when he appeared in Fresno on Wednesday, but the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses coming to Fresno County next week — 1,000 fewer than this week — might say otherwise. Fresno County community health manager Joe Prado says...