Vaccine photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters

As vaccination demand hits a wall in the Central Valley, Fresno County Department of Public Health is closing clinics to save doses. 

Fresno County’s Central High vaccination site will close for now, and its Mendota site will move to operating just on Saturdays to accommodate lack of demand on weekdays.

The two vaccination sites have a combined capacity of administering about 600 vaccine doses per day. Between the two vaccine sites, they only administered 25 doses.

The Fresno Fairgrounds will also move its primary administration location from the Agricultural Building to its Junior Exhibits Building off of Butler Avenue. 

“I think as we’ve gone into the general population, the Saturday slots are more coveted,” said Joe Prado, community health division manager for Fresno County. 

Fresno County is requesting 15,000 doses next week in response to the lack of filled appointments. The health department is reserving less than what’s been allocated. 

The county will increase vaccine education in partnership with community based organizations. But Prado said that nothing beats having a personal conversation with peers about vaccine importance. 

Though mass vaccination sites are seeing a decline, Prado said, “people are accessing the commercial, pharmaceutical market a lot now.”

Interim health officer Dr. Rais Vohra urged the majority of the community to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, especially to protect young populations under 16 years old, who are not authorized to receive any of the vaccines. 

Prado said the health department is working on a vaccine hesitancy survey right now in order to dive deeper into reasoning behind why certain zip codes have low uptick in vaccines.

Younger populations are a priority to market the vaccine to because they represent the community shield of herd immunity. Universities of California and California State Universities have announced they will require Covid-19 vaccines by the fall 2021 semester, provided that at least one vaccine is fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The requirement could make a significant leap in reaching younger populations. 

“These vaccines are a real layer of defense against this pandemic, and they really do represent a way forward,” Vohra said.