Vaccine options for Merced County now include some Golden Valley Health Centers, CVS
Merced County residents will have more options where to receive COVID-19 vaccinations with Golden Valley Health Center locations and CVS Pharmacy offering vaccinations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a new program that started last week to distribute vaccines directly to select health centers that are funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration.
The new vaccines will be in addition to the weekly state allocations currently given to each jurisdiction.
Golden Valley Health Centers, which has locations in Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin Counties, will be receiving the additional vaccine supply, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ellen Piernot confirmed to McClatchy on Tuesday.
Golden Valley Health Centers has already vaccinated over 2,500 residents in Merced County according to Dr. Priti Golechha, GVHC associate chief medical officer.
“Currently under the state’s tier system and under Merced County’s guidance, we are offering vaccines to patients that are of age 65 and older,” said Golechha. “As we receive more vaccines, we will expand to the next tier following Merced County’s guidelines.”
Golden Valley Health Centers offers vaccinations by appointment at three Merced County sites. Appointments can be made at the GVHC located in Merced at 847 West Childs Ave., in Los Banos at 821 Texas Ave. and 13151 Jefferson St. in Le Grand.
Residents eligible to receive the vaccination can schedule an appointment by calling or texting 1-866-682-4842.
“Each GVHC approved location listed will be able to place and receive orders for additional COVID-19 vaccines,” Golechha said. “GVHC plans to continue expanding to our other Merced County clinics as more vaccines are received.”
CVS Health also announced that COVID-19 vaccinations will be offered at 40 more select CVS Pharmacies, including locations in the San Joaquin Valley.
Approximately 49,140 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are being made available at the 40 locations.
Appointments for this allocation will start to become available for booking on Wednesday, with shots beginning Feb. 25.
According to CVS.com, Merced is listed as one of the locations with vaccine appointments available.
Appointments can be made online at CVS.com or through the CVS Pharmacy app, and those without online access can contact Customer Service: 800-746-7287.
Merced County reports one new death
The Merced County Department of Public Health reported one new COVID-19 related death on Wednesday, bringing the total to 394 fatalities since the start of the pandemic.
The latest death was a woman, over the age of 65 with underlying health conditions.
On Wednesday Merced County also reported 125 new confirmed cases, raising the total to 28,874 residents infected by the virus since the start of the pandemic.
There are 1,312 Merced County residents estimated to be actively infected — a drop of 80 cases in the last week.
The number of residents hospitalized in Merced County due to the coronavirus is 32 — with eight people in the ICU.
According to the state, Merced County hospitals had six ICU beds remaining as of Wednesday.
Merced County has a positivity rate of 6%, meaning the level of people among those who’ve been tested who had a positive result. That’s down from about 11% at the beginning of February.
Around the Valley
Wednesday updates from neighboring Valley counties included:
Fresno County: Reported 157 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 94,741 total cases since the start of the pandemic. Late Wednesday, Fresno County reported 11 additional fatalities attributed to the coronavirus.. Since the start of the pandemic 1,412 Fresno County residents had succumbed to the disease.
Stanislaus County: Reported four new deaths, bringing the total to 941 total fatalities since the start of the pandemic. Also reported 105 new cases, raising the total to 50,075 since the start of the pandemic.
Kings County: No update Wednesday because of computer system maintenance. As of Tuesday, the county was reporting a cumulative total to date of 21,916 cases, including 218 deaths.
Madera County: 23 new cases, 15,302 to date; eight additional deaths in the first update of fatalities in more than a week, 209 to date.
Mariposa County: One new case, 394 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Tulare County: 50 new cases, 47,730 to date; eight additional deaths, 739 to date.
In just under a year since the first Valley cases of coronavirus, the region has seen almost 209,000 residents who have been infected. Of those, 2,968 people have died.
