College of the Sequoias hosts two Tulare County mass vaccination events this week

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Hundreds of cars snaked their way through the College of the Sequoias Visalia campus parking lot during another Tulare County mass vaccination event on Wednesday.

COS now joins Porterville College and the International Agri-Center in providing the county much-needed space for the drive-through events.

In addition to hosting two clinics this week, COS is also supplying about 30 non-medical volunteers each day.

Like Porterville College, they are exploring the possibility of letting nursing students administer the shot.

"We love the communities and the region that we serve," COS President Brent Calvin said. "I think we've all been kind of itching to do something in this effort, so this was an opportunity that a bunch of us could help out. So we're really, really excited about it."

"So far it's been very, very smooth," Tulare County Public Health's Carrie Monteiro added.

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Monteiro says these vaccination events are still limited to Phase 1A workers or 65 and older residents with an appointment, and as far as this week's clinics go, all appointments are booked and no walk-in's are allowed.

Also, due to limited vaccine supply, county officials have not yet scheduled any appointments for next week.

"So we have to be very mindful and very much balance out that whenever we bring on a new clinic in giving a first dose, we also have to come again and make sure we have supply to fulfill the requirement of that second dose," Monteiro explained.

The vaccine will eventually make its way to those in other phases of the county's vaccination schedule, and Monteiro says public health staff is making preparations for distribution to those groups.

But given that the demand for a shot currently outweighs the supply, she's continuing to ask for patience from Tulare County residents.

"More appointments will come online, but we need more vaccine before we can begin to do that," she said.