SANTA ROSA, CA – Sonoma County has been selected to be one of four counties in the state to take part in a pilot vaccination program through OptumServe, the company known for operating COVID-19 testing sites throughout the state.
Under the pilot program, OptumServe will begin administering vaccinations at a clinic to be set up at the Rohnert Park Community Center starting on Wednesday, Jan. 27. The clinic will be targeted for Sonoma County residents ages 75 and above. Appointments are required and, at the outset, are being set up by invitation only through local senior citizen community groups. The clinic will handle up to 420 vaccinations a day.
“This is an incredible opportunity for Sonoma County as OptumServe already has extensive experience in operating large-capacity sites like this,” said Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. “This is one more opportunity we will have to make sure that we get vaccines to those residents most at risk of contracting this virus.”
Other counties selected for this pilot program are San Bernardino, Riverside and Contra Costa counties. All sites were expected to be operating this week.
The activation of the OptumServe site in Rohnert Park now brings to eight the number of vaccination clinics being offered, or soon to begin, in partnership with the County of Sonoma. With the Rohnert Park site, these clinics will have capacity to provide up to 2,500 vaccinations or more a day for targeted employees or residents in Phase 1a of the state’s prioritization framework. This total does not include vaccinations that are also being administered in Sonoma County through hospitals and health care providers such as Kaiser, Sutter and St. Joseph, federally qualified health centers and the federal Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program with CVS and Walgreens, which is responsible for vaccinations at skilled nursing facilities and residential care facilities.
County-supported vaccination clinics that are in operation, or soon to be open, include:
- AMR and fire agency clinic for first responders and law enforcement at the Public Health Lab, with capacity for 200 per day.
- Sonoma County Medical Association clinic for health-care providers at Grace Pavilion, with capacity for 300 per day. (Additional lanes will also be available at Grace which has a capacity for up to 1,200 per day.)
- Safeway clinic for in-home supportive services workers at Sonoma County Fairgrounds, with capacity for 300 per day.
- Clinical Health Appraisals clinic for Public Health field workers at County Administration building, with capacity for 200 per day.
- DEMA Consulting clinic for community health promoters at Roseland Library, with capacity for 200 per day.
- The Fitness Center at Santa Rosa Junior College-Petaluma Campus, which will have capacity for more than 300 vaccinations per day.
- Huerta Gym in the Town of Windsor which will have capacity for 300 or more vaccinations per day. This also will be targeted to those ages 75 and up.
- In addition, the County is looking at setting up a vaccinations center in Sonoma Valley and hopes to have a site identified soon.
“We are activating as many clinics as possible in partnership with health care providers and community organizations of all kinds,” said Barbie Robinson, Director of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services. “Our biggest concern is whether we will receive enough doses of vaccine in the days ahead to support all of these clinics. While that issue is out of our hands, we will continue to advocate for the resources we need, including additional doses.”
County residents, workers, business owners and others are encouraged to go to socoemergency.org/vaccine for up-to-date information on the progress of the rollout as well as information about options for getting a vaccine.
