Aug. 17-When it was founded in 2004 by Monica Lopez, Sera provided testing, vaccinations and clinical research for communicable diseases.
But it all changed for this Montebello-based company of 120 employees, when COVID-19 hit in 2020, company officials said. And now 80% of its business is in providing COVID-19 vaccination and testing services in communities, companies and schools, including for a while Los Angeles Unified School District. Services include mobile, pop-up, drive through and on-site models.
The company also provides vaccinations - 180,000 since May 2021 - for free.
This week and next week, the company will be providing free vaccinations in Pico Rivera and Los Angeles.
For SeraCollection Research Services, its presence at the Summer Street Festival from 5 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19 at Smith Park, 6016 Rosemead Blvd., Pico Rivera, and from 9 a.m. to noon at Hilda L. Solis Care First Village, 1000 Alhambra Ave., Los Angeles, is an example of how COVID changed its business model.
The change began early on in the pandemic, Serra officials said.
"We went from a core business of clinical research and testing to a crisis," said Fernando Cortez, chief financial officer for Sera.
Our clinical research and testing came to a stop because of COVID," Cortez said. "Offices were closing because of safety measures and we couldn't get patients."
For a while, its own staff couldn't go to work, he said. But soon Sera began imposing its safety protocols allowing staff to return to work.
The company also had relationships with Moderna and Pfizer and began doing work for them.
"We drew up new protocols to get samples of blood, saliva and urine so we could help companies develop tests for COVID," Lopez, the founder and chief executive officer for Sera, said.
This is not new for companies like Sera, Lopez said.
"When a new disease comes up, everything you were working on stops and everyone begins working on the new emerging problem," she said.
In the case of COVID, Sera also has become more than just a testing and sampling company.
Sera offers testing and vaccination for free in partnership with the California Department of PublC Health to help mitigate this pandemic and serve underserved communities, Manuel Cortez, director of operations, said.
"I encourage our local community parents to choose vaccinations for their children," Lopez said in an emailed release.
"We have certainly seen some children become very ill due to the virus and we also know they can spread COVID-19 to others who may be especially vulnerable to the virus and its effects," she wrote.
Sera also continues to work on its core business of sampling, such as doing clinical trials for children for Moderna, Cortez said.
For example, the company is now going to work on dealing with monkeypox.
Working with the county, the company expects to begin distributing a vaccination this week in high-risk areas, Cortez said.
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