New COVID-19 vaccination site opens at Fresno City College

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Hundreds of cars lined up for the opening of a vaccination site at Fresno City College.

It will be operated by UCSF, who previously operated its clinic off Shaw Avenue near Fashion Fair.

The new location is bigger and more centrally located.

"This is a very big deal," says Dr. Kenny Banh.

The first-come, first-serve drive-thru site will grow increasingly important as more tiers up -- allowing more people to get vaccinated.

Fresno County Vaccination Dashboard

"The past week, we've been flooded by interested patients," Dr. Banh said. "Which is a good problem to have, so we really expedited this move so we can really ramp up."

At the former Shaw location, workers vaccinated about 500 people a day. On Tuesday, they helped 600 people.

But once fully ramped up, this site will be able to vaccinate a couple of thousand people every day.

For those who don't drive, the Fresno Economic Opportunity Commission will run shuttles and FAX buses are offering free rides.

"We want to make sure that we have an equity focus and making sure we are taking care of people," Dr. Banh said.

A limited number of appointments will be available on the state's MyTurn website but most shots will be reserved for drop-in patients.

UCSF says it's too soon to gauge the number of time people wait in line at this new location -- and they warn that having an appointment won't let you skip to the front of the line.

This week, Fresno county received nearly 40,000 more doses. Rep. Jim Costa and the Fresno City College president praised the progress.

"We are celebrating the fact that we got more vaccines for the people of our Valley, that's what is critical," Costa said. "We got to get to a level when we can have herd immunity."

"We know we will be able to serve hundreds of people every day so they can get the vaccine, so now we can get back to work and back to school," says FCC President Dr. Carole Goldsmith.