www.montereycountynow.com APRIL 30-MAY 6, 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 15 Lynette Fitzgerald is not one to give up when faced with a challenge. As Salinas Valley Health’s community benefit director, she pushed for several years to get the SVH mobile clinic approved for the Vaccines for Children Program through the Centers for Disease Control. The federal program allows approved providers to administer free childhood vaccines to families that can’t afford them. Since the mobile clinic is able to reach patients in need in rural areas and underserved neighborhoods, Fitzgerald saw becoming a VFC provider as a top priority, not only as a way to protect children from common diseases, but also to help schools. Administrators would call her asking if the mobile clinic could visit their schools to administer required vaccinations in the face of having to pull unvaccinated children out of the classroom, meaning a loss of state funding each day a child is absent. “I said, ‘We have to figure out how to get these vaccines,’” she says. SVH kept getting turned down by the CDC due to the fact that the vaccines need to be held at specific temperatures in medical-grade refrigerators or freezers, and require tight record-keeping controls. The vaccines are provided free of charge to VFC providers by the CDC. Determined to find a way to convince federal authorities that vaccines could be administered safely and securely through the mobile clinic, last year she secured the refrigeration equipment necessary to hold the vaccines in her office, to be transported each day to proper storage in the mobile clinic. She also developed a process to keep careful records of each dose received from the CDC and administered. Her persistence paid off. The mobile clinic was approved as a VFC provider last July. The first VFC immunization was on Aug. 4. Since then, the clinic has been able to provide approximately 400 vaccines to about 150 children. The value of those vaccines exceeds $60,000. “Being VFC-approved has really helped us get important vaccines into the arms of kids that need them,” Fitzgerald says. Now the program is going directly into the schools with partner districts, with the first mobile clinic visiting a Salinas middle school on Friday, May 1 for a “back to school” event to administer vaccines needed in order to enter high school in the fall. To qualify for a VFC vaccine, recipients must be age 18 or younger, and be insured by Medi-Cal or be uninsured. Those who are American Indian or Alaskan Native also qualify. The vaccines are free, and SVH charges nothing to administer them, although providers are allowed to charge. People who visit the mobile clinic are not required to be patients of SVH. In addition, the mobile clinic serves as an urgent care on wheels with two exam rooms, a laboratory, a registration area and other work areas. Its staff can provide simple urgent care services for things like lacerations, sore throats, upper respiratory infections and others, plus health exams. Take a Shot Salinas Valley Health earns the right to deliver free vaccines to kids through its mobile clinic. By Pam Marino The SVH mobile clinic is now federally qualified to administer free vaccines to the children of families who cannot afford them. Since August, over 400 vaccines have been given to about 150 children. NEWS “It’s helped us get important vaccines into the arms of kids.” DANIEL DREIFUSS Mother’s Day MOM’S COASTAL ESCAPE $370 / 110 MINS 50 MIN. SIGNATURE MASSAGE & 50 MIN SIGNATURE FACIAL * INCLUDES TEA SERVICE * MOTHER’S DAY DUO $370 / 50 MINS TWO 50 MIN. SIGNATURE MASSAGE OR TWO 50 MIN SIGNATURE FACIAL * INCLUDES TEA SERVICE * OCEAN INSPIRED AROMATHERAPY ENHANCEMENT $20 SIGNATURE CANDLE GIFT AVAILABLE $15 < SCAN HERE TO BOOK PURCHASE A GIFT CARD BY MAY 8 & RECIEVE A $25 CREDIT FOR ANY FARM HOUSE FRESH PURCHASE TH RESERVE@SPAONTHEPLAZA.COM 831-647-9000 shirting sport coats soft coats outerwear sweaters carmel plaza carmel-by-the-sea new arrivals made in italy
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