In approximately a single month, the Sonoma County Winegrowers and Sonoma County Vintners were able to get more than 95% of their essential workers vaccinated. | Pixabay
In approximately a single month, the Sonoma County Winegrowers and Sonoma County Vintners were able to get more than 95% of their essential workers vaccinated. | Pixabay
Recent estimates have all but a handful of Sonoma County’s approximately 8,000 essential vineyard and winery workers having received a vaccination against COVID-19, leading some state officials to consider using the industry’s vaccination program as a blueprint.
KSRO reported that the Sonoma County Winegrowers and Sonoma County Vintners launched a campaign in February to get workers vaccinated by setting up appointments in large blocks at community health centers. By the end of March, with the campaign winding down, more than 95% had received a vaccination.
Karissa Kruse, president of the Sonoma County Winegrowers, told KSRO that the campaign involved an unprecedented collaboration for those groups that were involved.
“The Sonoma County Winegrowers, the Sonoma County Vintners and Sonoma County Farm Bureau – sort of representing the different ag and production organizations in the county – actually forged a partnership, unlike one we’ve done before, with the West County Health Center, Alexander Valley Healthcare, Alliance Medical Center, Sonoma Valley Health Center and the Sonoma County Medical Association,” Kruse told KSRO.
She said the collaboration aimed to work together to find a way to form a partnership that would help to get essential workers vaccinated. While the vaccinations began in February, the actual collaboration effort only began in late January.
“We just started doing weekly phone calls with the leadership of those different community health care centers and our local organizations,” Kruse said.
The participants continued to conduct those weekly meetings throughout the campaign, discussing what the vaccination process would look like, doses that would be available, and what the needs were at that time for both the agricultural and production sides.
“And then we just worked together to get blocks of appointments, and there’s a lot of trust between the health centers and our industry associations, then, to be able to take those blocks of appointments and go back out to our members and help our farm workers and production workers get access to those appointments and get vaccinated," she said.
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