Main story: COVID-19 vaccine roll-out for Gilroy seniors well underway

Partnership of county, cities and nonprofits provides easier access to shots

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By Marty Cheek

Under pop-up tents at the Gilroy Senior Center parking lot, the prick of a needle into the arm took less than a minute. At the mobile vaccination clinic Feb. 17, about 200 senior citizens gained a sense of relief after they received inoculation protection against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among them was Joanne Fierro. She is well aware the shots can be a matter of life and death for older residents who are at very high risk of severe illness if they catch COVID-19. The longtime Gilroy resident’s face beamed with joy when she finished the process of getting her inoculation along with Dolores and Leonard, a couple of her friends who accompanied her to the walk-in event.

“We came this morning and stood in line because we didn’t need an appointment and it went really fast,” she said. “What they did is fill out our paperwork, they gave us an appointment (time) and we were allowed to go away and come back in about an hour or so.”

The Santa Clara County Public Health Department is partnering with various cities, including Gilroy and Morgan Hill, and local nonprofit organizations to provide the free vaccinations to seniors in a ramp up to make sure as many as possible are immunized against the coronavirus. As of Feb. 15, more than half of county residents 75 years and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccine data from the California Department of Public Health’s California Immunization Registry shows that 43.7 percent of county residents age 65 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 232,761 total residents now partially or fully vaccinated.

To reach herd immunity, the county aims to vaccinate at least 85 percent of residents age 16 or older by Aug. 1. It is ensuring equitable access for those at greatest risk of serious illness and death and those at the greatest risk of exposure to COVID-19. The strategy includes large-scale vaccination sites located in communities, community-based no-appointment “pop-up” vaccine clinics targeting those regions hardest hit by COVID-19, and intensive multilingual community outreach including the Spanish-speaking community in Gilroy.

In addition to the mobile clinics at the Gilroy Senior Center, other first-come, first served walk-in appointment sites in the South Valley include the Gilroy Veterans Hall and the Gardener South County Health Center. Educators, childcare workers, agriculture/food workers, and emergency services workers started scheduling appointments Feb. 28.

At the senior center’s mobile clinic, Gilroy City Councilmember Rebeca Armendariz described why it is important to provide a variety of locations for senior citizens to get a COVID-19 shot. Many lack the means or physical health ability to travel long distances to locations such as the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds or Levi’s Stadium where the vaccine has been distributed en mass in recent weeks.

“Latinos and seniors are the ones who are the hardest hit, the ones who are most likely to get infected and die of COVID-19,” Armendariz said. “So we have to go where they are.”

As of Feb. 26, there have been 7,222 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among Gilroy citizens, 13 percent of the population, and 85 Gilroyans have died from the disease. Gilroy has the highest cases per capita in the county, with Morgan Hill coming in second with 3.347 cases, or 7.6 percent of the population. Morgan Hill has had 46 deaths. The United States in mid-February passed the 500,000 mark in deaths.

Adding to the need to rush the roll-out of the vaccinations with senior citizens is the arrival of more contagious strains of COVID-19, especially the South African variant. It is 50 percent more contagious than the original strain of the virus, which first appeared in the United States in January 2020.

“Based on the information we got from Dr. Cody, the vaccine should protect from that variant as well,” Armendariz said. “But the speed and the increased contagiousness of it is incredibly scary. So we have teams in Gilroy who are hitting the grounds.”

Helping to give the inoculations are local firefighters. These first responders will also be giving vaccinations at the homes of those seniors and others who have health issues that do not allow them to leave their residences.

Gilroy Fire Chief Jim Wyatt described the ramping up of inoculations among senior citizens as a partnership between city employees, the county health department, and various nonprofit groups.

“On behalf of all the fire departments, this is our opportunity like never before, for us to make a change rather than respond to the medical problems and the issues that are going on because of COVID,” he said at a press conference at Gilroy Senior Center’s Feb. 17 mobile clinic event. “We actually get an opportunity to do the exact opposite. We actually get an opportunity to stop it in its tracks right here and now so that we can put our community back on its feet, get people back to school, back to work, and back to being healthy again.”

Claudia Rossi, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Education and a registered nurse, has focused much of her time working with county public health employees on making sure senior citizens in the South Valley have easy access to the COVID-19 vaccinations. At the Gilroy Senior Center press conference, she expressed her mixed emotions on seeing the ramp-up of the inoculations for older residents.

“Gilroy has mourned so many losses and it’s a wonderful thing to be able to be among you to celebrate a day of joy and hope,” she said. “I think the message of today is that we are rebuilding together.”

County Supervisor Cindy Chavez attended the Gilroy Senior Center vaccination pop-up clinic and also congratulated those older men and women who were receiving an inoculation.

“This whole pandemic has really forced us in the best way possible to learn how to work together, to make do with less and do our very best so we can get everyone in our community across the finish line and get them vaccinated,” she said. “The city of Gilroy and its residents are resilient and they know how to act in a crisis.”

She reminded the public that as vaccination efforts and eligibility continue scaling up throughout the county, those who are at risk of exposure should continue getting tested regularly.

Testing is now more accessible than ever, with mobile testing buses going to new neighborhoods each week and saliva collection offered at pop-up sites to provide an easier, less invasive experience.

“Getting everyone vaccinated is a significant part of our pandemic response right now, but we cannot forget the other critical public health tools, which include testing, masking, and social distancing,” said Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, COVID-19 Testing and Vaccine Officer for the county in a press release. “Testing is key to understanding the current level of community transmission, which is particularly important as we learn more about emerging variants.”

Frontline workers are especially encouraged to continue routine COVID-19 testing to protect themselves and others. Public health guidance recommends testing at least once a month and up to once every two weeks.

Appointment-based testing continues seven days a week at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Rotating appointment-only testings are scheduled for various cities including Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Appointments can be made starting seven days in advance of the testing date until all slots are reserved at www.sccfreetest.org.