The following press release was issued by the County of Mendocino:
On Thursday, January 7th, the County of Mendocino administered 284 vaccines to a variety of frontline workers.
Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were provided to Public Safety workers including firefighters, police officers, contact tracers and the employees of the county’s Department Operations Center who are at a higher risk of exposure to people infected with Covid-19.
Additionally, Public Health nurses vaccinated employees from the county’s Public Defender’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office and Alternate Defenders Office, as well as other essential health care workers who have not yet received the vaccine.
According to Adrienne Thompson, co-director of the county’s Vaccine Clinics, the process for administering the vaccine has been modified and enables more people to get vaccinated in a shorter amount of time.
“We are incorporating suggestions from our Public Health nurses who have extensive experience operating vaccine clinics. We are placing people in rows of six, opening up one vial of vaccine at a time and vaccinating each row,” she explained. Timers are used to let staff know when the post-vaccine recovery period is complete. “Initially, we were vaccinating 15 people at a time, as a single unit. Now we are vaccinating people continuously, which has dramatically sped up the process.”
“We are continuing to ramp up our program so that we will be fully prepared when it becomes time to vaccinate the general public,” says Vaccine Clinic Co-Director Nash Gonzalez. At the county’s first clinic held on December 22nd, 72 individuals were vaccinated in approximately 5 hours. Thursday’s clinic resulted in a four-fold increase in the number of people vaccinated in the same time period. The ramping up has allowed staff to provide training to nurses and volunteers, ensure that all safety procedures are being followed and keep pace with intake and paperwork. Gonzalez notes in order to prepare for mass public vaccinations later this year, the next step will be operating two clinics simultaneously. Both clinics will be located in the Ukiah area, and plans for the rollout of the second clinic are still being finalized.
“Our current allotment of vaccine is gone- and that’s the idea,” Gonzalez notes. According to Bekkie Emery, Department Operations Center Manager, the 284 vaccines administered on Thursday consisted of 100 Moderna and 184 Pfizer vaccines. The 100 Moderna vaccines were received into Public Health on Wednesday, January 6th, which represents a dramatic increase in turnaround time from receipt to administration of the vaccine.
The next shipment of Pfizer vaccine is scheduled to arrive on January 8th, and another shipment of Moderna vaccine is scheduled to arrive next week.
For more information about Mendocino County’s COVID-19 response, available resources and other details, please visit the county’s COVID-19 page, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. The county’s Call Center is staffed from 8:30-5:00 PM Monday through Friday at (707) 472-2759.
