Planting Seeds - Food & Farming News from CDFA

Northern California wine country trade groups help facilitate COVID vaccinations for farmworkers

Sonoma County farmworker Javier Contreras receives his first COVID-19 vaccination at a clinic in Guerneville. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)

From the North Bay Business Journal

A cooperative effort involving Sonoma County Winegrowers, Sonoma County Vintners, Sonoma County Farm Bureau, local community health centers including the West County Health Center, the Sonoma Valley Health Center, the Alliance Medical Center, Alexander Valley Health Care, and the Sonoma County Medical Association has resulted in to get thousands of COVID-19 vaccination doses to agricultural and production workers throughout the region, the groups announced.

They stated that multiple vaccination sites are utilized through this collaboration in the county. The agricultural organizations coordinate weekly and, sometimes, daily with the community health centers to determine how many vaccines will be available that week and at what location. With that information, the agricultural organizations work with their ag and production partners to schedule appointments to ensure the greatest number of essential workers are vaccinated each day.

In addition to organizing the vaccine rollout for essential ag workers, the Sonoma County Vintners Foundation donated Apple iPad tablets and funding to each of the participating Community Health Centers to provide much needed technology for coordinating the logistics of vaccine program. The Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation also donated funding.

The Napa County Farm Bureau has partnered with St Helena Health Foundation in efforts to identify agricultural workers in Napa County for COVID vaccination.

Ag workers who are still in need of a COVID vaccine in Napa County can sign up using the St Helena Health Foundation Vaccine Interest Form at www.napafarmbureau.org/latest-news. Employers will be contacted by the foundation as increased vaccine supplies are available.

Link to story on the North Bay Business Journal web site

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