This week, 1,200 agricultural workers in Santa Cruz County received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. A collaboration between Dignity Health Dominican Hospital, the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency, and the California Strawberry Commission moved swiftly to begin immunizing area farmworkers.

This event could not have happened without the support of many partners.

The commission extends a heartfelt thank you to all the health care staff, who volunteered their time to deliver more than 1200 immunizations to essential agricultural workers this week.

Special thanks to Dignity Health Dominican Hospital and Dominque Hollister, Director of Administrative Services and Community Benefit, for championing agricultural workers. Also, thanks to strawberry industry members Tom AmRhein and Nishan Moutafian, members of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau Coronavirus Task Force who served as a bridge to the California Strawberry Commission.

This week's vaccinations in Santa Cruz County had the goal to distribute a small portion of vaccines across as many employers as possible to create "vaccine ambassadors" who can share their experience with their co-workers as more vaccines become available in the coming weeks.

Currently, Santa Cruz County is the only Central Coast county that has implemented vaccination for farm workers. Ventura County is conducting a small scale pilot program throughout February, testing mobile vaccination efforts at farms, H2A housing, packing houses and other locations, for farm workers. Central Coast counties are expecting more widespread vaccine availability for farm workers in March.

Here are a few samples of this week's media coverage of this week's event:
Telemundo: https://link.calstrawberry.com/hag
KSBW: https://link.calstrawberry.com/40d
KTVU: https://link.calstrawberry.com/hoc 

The best way to stay informed is to monitor your local county public health web sites.

Santa Cruz County: 
https://link.calstrawberry.com/83s

Monterey County:
https://link.calstrawberry.com/3bt

San Luis Obispo County:
https://link.calstrawberry.com/csz

Santa Barbara County:
https://link.calstrawberry.com/ovr

Ventura County:
https://link.calstrawberry.com/uj8

Orange County:
https://link.calstrawberry.com/382

San Diego County:
https://link.calstrawberry.com/5a5

State Vaccine Information:
https://link.calstrawberry.com/1j0