South County allies combine efforts to stop Covid-19 in its tracks by increasing vaccinations.

The scourge of Covid-19 hit the agricultural area of South County especially hard, making up nearly half of the more than 43,000 cases in Monterey County since the pandemic began. And yet despite concerted efforts by everyone from local officials to the federal government to pump vaccines into the region, South County has lagged behind the rest of the county. As of May 24, the Monterey County Health Department reports that the region’s vaccination rate for eligible residents ages 12 and up is at 52 percent, compared to Salinas with 67 percent, just barely ahead of the Peninsula and Big Sur at 66 percent.

“Supply is no longer an issue. Now it’s really getting to the populations that for some reason haven’t been vaccinated,” says Kim Stemler, who is overseeing testing and vaccination efforts for the Covid-19 Collaborative coordinated by the Community Foundation for Monterey County.

In recent weeks, South County’s rate is improving. That’s thanks to a concerted effort by a coalition of agencies, medical providers and nonprofits that this spring moved beyond mass vaccination clinics of agricultural workers to targeting smaller pockets of people.

Getting those pockets vaccinated takes a more surgical approach, says County Supervisor Chris Lopez, who represents South County. “Overall the story is that we swung hard early with a machete, we hit it hard with everything we had. But now we have to operate more with a scalpel,” he says. “We’re shifting from a mode of talking at people to talking with people and asking them what would make it easier, knowing there isn’t one answer but 30 answers.”

In December, Lopez and his fellow supervisors voted to fund the VIDA Project which hired about 125 community health workers through 10 nonprofit organizations known and trusted by residents. They voted on May 25 to extend the program through September.

Monterey County analyst Rosemary Soto says as they are doing in Seaside and North County, VIDA workers are fanning out to markets and other locations to talk with people about Covid. “One of the really cool things we’ve learned is that because the public sees them in front of storefronts, they come back to learn more. Some people have changed their minds and are getting vaccinated as a result,” Soto says.

Stemler says early efforts to vaccinate agricultural workers by the Grower-Shippers Association, Clinica de Salud and others have largely been successful. Now five ag trade associations, along with Mee Memorial Hospital, Soledad Medical Center, Greenfield Fire Department and others are hosting clinics for smaller groups. One recent clinic vaccinated 40 Indigenous people. In another effort to reach Indigenous people, VIDA partner Centro Binacional launched a vaccination phone line for Oaxacan language speakers in Mixteco, Triqui and Zapoteco.

Mee Memorial has focused from the beginning on helping patients who may not have internet or computers to make appointments, says Chief Medical Officer Robert Valladares. When vaccination appointments began to slow, the hospital continued outreach, offering assistance to sign up. Now they are encouraging walk-ins and are offering late-afternoon clinics to catch people coming home from work.