SANTA ROSA, Calif.,
Feb. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As
efforts to vaccinate essential agricultural and production workers
struggle to proceed throughout California and the nation, Sonoma County's farmers, vintners and health
communities have been successfully partnering to get thousands of
COVID-19 vaccination doses to these essential workers throughout
the region.
Now entering its 5th week of operation, the program
has already vaccinated and scheduled vaccination appointments for
more than 8,300 essential workers from Sonoma County's agriculture, vineyard, food,
and winery sectors. The target for essential ag and
production workers receiving vaccination in Sonoma County is 12,500. The vaccination
program and collaboration will continue for the foreseeable
future.
"This effort in Sonoma County
should be the model for the nation in how to organize and vaccinate
essential ag and production workers," said Dr. Jason Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer at
West County Health Centers. He added, "We have succeeded
because of the tremendous collaboration throughout the community
from people and organizations who share one focus to quickly and
efficiently immunize our essential food and agricultural workers to
reduce their risk of becoming ill."
The program is a cooperative effort involving the Sonoma County
Winegrowers, the Sonoma County Vintners, the Sonoma County Farm
Bureau, local community health centers including the West County
Health Center, the Sonoma Valley Health Center, the Alliance
Medical Center, the Alexander Valley Health Care, and the Sonoma
County Medical Association. Each agricultural group has a
specific responsibility: the Winegrowers work with the local
winegrape farmers; the Vintners work with local wineries; and the
Sonoma County Farm Bureau works with non-wine related farmers and
ag processors. Farmers, vintners, and processors have been
receiving regular updates from their representative organization to
provide the number of people they employ, where they reside or work
in the county and their transportation needs.
Each week, Community Health Centers throughout Sonoma County commit a certain number of
vaccines to vaccinate essential ag and production workers against
the Coronavirus pandemic. Every day, it is up to the industry
partners to coordinate with the ag and production employers to
organize and schedule appointments for the workers and ensure that
all the vaccines are being utilized. Each of the ag partner
organizations is contributing staff, providing translators, and
donating additional resources to make this effort successful.
In addition, the Sonoma County Medical Association and its
vast network of local volunteers dedicated two full days to
vaccinating vineyard workers and wine production workers at the
Sonoma County Fairgrounds, successfully administering the first
doses of the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine to over 1,200 people.
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.
However, for any vaccination program to succeed, there is one
essential element: a person's trust in the vaccine and the
institutions that administer it. This model specifically relies on
the partnerships among the ag and production associations and the
healthcare community and the trust that employees have with their
agricultural employers. In addition, agricultural
organizations have conducted outreach and education to essential
workers. All communication and education are offered in both
Spanish and English so everyone can make informed decisions about
getting vaccinated.
"We are succeeding in reaching our vaccination goal because of
the outstanding coordination and trust that exist amongst all
parties involved. There is a unique relationship the county
trade associations have with each other, local businesses and farms
and, in turn, the trust that exists between the ag employer and
their employees," said Karissa
Kruse, President of the Sonoma County Winegrowers. She
added, "While there has been a lot of news about problems
throughout the country in vaccinating essential workers, here in
Sonoma County, we created a broad
coalition to develop a plan that would work to ensure that our ag
and production workers get vaccinated as soon as possible.
This model of bringing healthcare providers together
with local businesses and farms should not be used just here for
this pandemic, but as a model for supporting the health of our
local communities moving forward. "
As witnessed throughout the United
States, the logistical challenges to distributing the
vaccines are enormous and complex. Adding to that in California are the continued revisions to the
state's rollout plan, confusing messaging to millions of workers
regarding priority vaccination groups and an undersupply of doses
statewide. The result has been a mixed effort to inoculate
high-risk workers employed at farms, restaurants, and grocery
stores.
"From the beginning, our focus has been on creating accessible
clinics at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds to support the vaccination
efforts of the current eligible tier of community members and
mobilizing our volunteer network of local doctors and nurses," said
Wendy Young, Executive Director,
Sonoma County Medical Association. She added, "The Sonoma
County Medical Association is pleased to have been able to have an
active role in vaccinating our community and partnering with the
local agricultural and wine communities to vaccinate Sonoma County's essential ag and production
workers in this phase. This level of collaboration is special, and
we look forward to continuing this innovative partnership until all
who want the vaccine have it and our community can open its doors
again!"
A new study out of the University of
California, San Francisco found that Latinx Californians
experienced a 36% increase in mortality during the pandemic as
compared to historical periods, with a 59% increase among Latinx
food/agriculture workers. The state's current vaccination Phase
1B includes people 65 and older and
essential workers in education, emergency services, food, and
agriculture workers as eligible for shots. In Los Angeles County and other counties in
California, essential ag workers
will not be eligible to get vaccinated until March 1.
"As an employer, it is my responsibility to do everything I can
to protect the health and safety of my employees. I was
really worried after reading and hearing the news from throughout
the country of the many delays and problems in vaccinating
essential workers," said Bret
Munselle, of Munselle Vineyards. He added, "But,
witnessing how efficient the local collaboration has made securing
appointments and providing on-site education for our employees was
really impressive and a great relief to me. Everyone in
Sonoma County should be proud of
this partnership and its success."
In addition to organizing the vaccine rollout for essential ag
workers, the Sonoma County Vintners Foundation donated iPads 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 to each of the healthcare community organizations
involved to help cover day-to-day expenses related to the
program. The collaboration will continue and is accessible
for all ag and production workers who live in Sonoma County.
To learn more about the vaccine program, contact your respective
partner at:
Sonoma County
Winegrowers:
|
https://sonomawinegrape.org/
|
Sonoma County
Vintners:
|
https://sonomawine.com/
|
Sonoma County Farm
Bureau:
|
https://sonomafb.org/
|
West County Health
Centers:
|
https://www.wchealth.org/
|
Alliance Medical
Center:
|
https://alliancemed.org/
|
Sonoma Valley
Community Health Center:
|
https://svchc.org/
|
Alexander Valley
Healthcare:
|
https://alexandervalleyhealthcare.org/
|
Sonoma County Medical
Association:
|
http://www.nbcms.org/home.aspx
|
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SOURCE Sonoma County Winegrape Growers