39% of El Dorado County eligible residents are currently vaccinated - Barton holds another clinic at Heavenly

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Barton Health will be holding another drive-through vaccination clinic at Heavenly Mountain Resort on Friday, May 21. Those who received their first vaccination at the April 30 clinic should already have their appointments scheduled. Individuals in need of their first or second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may receive it at this clinic. The clinic is held in partnership with the State of California and Vail Resorts.

COVID-19 vaccines help protect people who are vaccinated from getting sick or severely ill with COVID-19 and may also help protect people around them. Get a vaccine as soon as you can; widespread vaccination is a critical tool to help stop the pandemic, said Barton Health.

As of May 5, 2021, 61,658 residents of El Dorado County are fully vaccinated. This is 32 percent of the population. Of those 18 and over, 39 percent are fully vaccinated and in the population 65-years-old and older, 63.6 percent fully vaccinated. There are no figures available by individual regions of the county.

In El Dorado County there are 26,886 residents in the 65+ age group, the largest percentage of senior citizens in the state.

On the Nevada side, 38 percent of eligible residents 18 or older have been vaccinated with 62 percent of the 65+ group. Carson City has 42.5 percent of 18+ residents vaccinated and 79.1 percent of seniors. In Washoe County, 39.4 of 18+ are vaccinated, 73.9 percent of seniors. At the other end of the lake, Placer County, Calif., has 43.1 percent of the 18+ population vaccinated and 71.9 percent of seniors.

Levels of community transmission of COVID-19 according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Covid-tracker as of May 5: El Dorado, Placer, Douglas, and Carson City counties are all in the "substantial" level with Washoe in "moderate.'

Appointments for the May 21 clinic MUST be made in advance through California's MyTurn system (appointments will become available in MyTurn soon, please check back).

Individuals who received their first dose at Barton's April 30 clinic, had second dose appointments automatically scheduled through MyTurn (login to check appointment times).

First dose appointments will also need a second Pfizer dose scheduled through MyTurn, which may or may not be through Barton Health. The second dose of the Pfizer vaccine should be received three weeks after the first, and no later than six weeks after the first dose.

Barton cannot schedule appointments directly and patients do not need to be part of Barton’s system. The vaccine is being provided at no cost by the government. Patients will not be charged directly regardless of insurance coverage. Insurance companies have agreed to share the cost with hospitals or other vaccine administrators.