The clinic at the Edwards Lifesciences site, at 3009 Daimler St., was made possible through a $500,000 donation and significant facility and staffing support from Edwards, according to Providence.
The Daimler facility is across the street from the main campus of Irvine-based Edwards (NYSE: EW), the largest public company in OC with a valuation of nearly $60 billion.
A second clinic offering drive-thru appointments also opened last Monday at the Great Park, near 8000 Great Park Blvd. The city of Irvine owns that site, which is next to the Great Park Neighborhoods housing development. Vaccines are by appointment only and can be scheduled at myturn.ca.gov or by calling 1-833-422-4255.
Quarter-Million Doses
Providence now has three vaccine facilities it operates in the county; it already had a vaccine clinic at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton.
The Renton, Wash.-based health system has administered more than 256,815 vaccine doses in Southern California to date.
The new sites were chosen to support the equitable distribution of vaccines and together will be able to vaccinate up to 4,000 residents per day, with the ability to expand depending on vaccine supply, Providence said.
The cities of Irvine, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Tustin are providing equipment and resources such as multilingual communications and accessibility assistance.
“Providence is committed to providing Orange County residents with access to the vaccine, particularly our most vulnerable communities that are bearing the brunt of this virus, and our strong partnerships are making that possible,” Erik Wexler, president of operations and strategy at Providence South, said in a statement.
Since the onset of the pandemic, there have been over 44,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in Santa Ana, equating to a 13.2% positivity rate, according to Providence. By comparison, neighboring cities have faced lower positivity rates of 3.6% in Irvine; 7.5% in Tustin; and 7.6% in Costa Mesa.
Furthermore, Providence recently made an investment of $1.4 million to increase access to COVID testing and vaccination supply to marginalized communities in Southern California. The investment includes 40,000 COVID prevention kits, 6,000 COVID testing kits, and over 30,000 surge kits containing personal protective equipment.
