Fresno County working to vaccinate more citizens with increased allotment

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County's vaccine allotment more than doubled this week, and health officials say that means the next couple of weeks will be crucial in getting many of those doses into the arms of residents.

During their update on Tuesday, county public health officials say they received 19,000 vaccines instead of their usual 8,000.

Community Division manager, Joe Prado, says they're working on mobilizing vaccines into rural areas.

"So in our rural areas, we are mobilizing on some of the unincorporated areas, and also in Orange Cove," he said. "We'll be in the Lanere area are looking at the Riverdale area on Thursday."

Sierra Pacific Orthopedic's Rick Lembo says they plan to start up first doses again on February 22nd while also reaching vulnerable patients in the foothills.

"We're looking at the outlying areas such as Prather, Auberry, equitable servitude proportion," he said. "A start date, I would tell you, that's probably later in the month, if not by the first of March."

"The state is recommending that we have 20 different doors for people to access vaccines," says Dr. Rais Vohra. "But given our county our size, just in terms of geography, we're going to go way above that. "

County officials are reaching out to the state to determine if they will continue to get increased doses in the future.