Marysville Appeal-Democrat

Vaccine rollout expanded Those in education, childcare, food, ag, and emergency services eligible

- By Jake Abbott jabbott@appealdemo­crat.com

Yuba-sutter Public Health officials announced they will be expanding the scope of who can receive COVID-19 vaccines at this weekend’s fifth county-sponsored clinic, including frontline workers in education and childcare, food and agricultur­e, and emergency services between the ages of 5064 years old.

Prior to now, only direct healthcare workers and YubaSutter residents 65 years and older were being administer­ed vaccines due to being the most vulnerable population­s. Those groups will still be able to register for vaccines.

“The prioritiza­tion continues to be on those at highest risk of hospitaliz­ation and death, as well as limited vaccine supply,” said Russ Brown, media and community relations coordinato­r for Yuba County. “Starting at 9 a.m. (today – Wednesday), these residents can register for an appointmen­t for this Saturday’s clinic at yuba. org/vaccines or suttercoun­ty. org/vaccine. If you are a frontline worker in those fields,

you will need a note from your employer or pay stub plus official ID for age verificati­on (driver’s license, passport, etc.).”

Those without internet access can also call 634-7496 (Yuba County) or 822-5985 (Sutter County) to register.

According to state data, more than 12,000 doses have been administer­ed to Yuba-sutter residents to date. Brown said that means more than half of the area’s residents aged 65 years and older have likely been offered at least one dose – there are an estimated 25,000 local residents that fall into that category.

There are 1,200 slots available this week to be administer­ed at the county-sponsored clinic. Brown said vaccine distributi­on is also being offered to the general public through Franklin Pharmacy, Riverside Pharmacy, Sutter Pharmacy, Safesave Pharmacy, and CVS Pharmacy.

“There are different age and tier requiremen­ts, however, so call these pharmacies directly or go to our county websites: yuba. org/vaccines or suttercoun­ty.org/ vaccine and follow the prompts for vaccine registrati­on,” he said. “Establishe­d patients of Adventist, Sutter North, Ampla Health, Peach Tree Health, Harmony Health, Sutter Pharmacy, and Safesave Pharmacy can also receive vaccines (there are also age requiremen­ts).”

The area’s COVID-19 case counts and test positivity continue to improve, which is reassuring, Brown said.

Sutter County is averaging 25.4 new cases per 100,000 people daily with a test positivity of

8.7 percent. Yuba County is averaging 20.9 new cases per 100,000 people a day with a test positivity of 8.4 percent.

“Let’s hope we can keep this trend even with the virus variants gaining more of a foothold in California,” he said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Yuba-sutter area increased by 33 on Tuesday, bringing the total to 14,342 cases. There are currently 521 active cases in the area.

Forty people were hospitaliz­ed due to COVID-19 as of Tuesday evening, while 98 people recovered from the virus. A total of 129 local residents have died to date.

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