Los Angeles city health officials closed five of Los Angeles’ drive-through and walk-up large-scale vaccination sites on Friday after facing a shortfall of doses. The centers will remain closed at least through Saturday.
Having vaccinating people faster than new vials are arriving here in Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti expressed complete concern and described the city’s vaccine supply as uneven, unpredictable and, too often, inequitable during a L.A. City COVID-19 news conference update on Wednesday.
The city’s vaccine news is quite frankly both good and bad, said Garcetti. The good news is, as of today, the city of Los Angeles has administered 293,252 vaccine doses at our five city vaccination sites serving both the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles county residents, he added.
“We’re averaging about 13,051 daily vaccinations at our sites this week, a 27% increase since last week,” he continued.
Los Angeles’ five sites have administered and distributed 98% of all doses of vaccines that has been given to the city, Garcetti said, the problem is, and here is the bad news, we don’t have enough vaccines, he added.
“When vaccines do get to Los Angeles, we know how to administer them, we have a great infrastructure set up of amazing people and we will give them to folks efficiently and safely,” he said.
On Thursday, the city exhausted its current supply of the Moderna vaccine for first dose appointments and prompted a temporarily closure of the Dodger Stadium and the other four of the non-mobile vaccination sites for two days. The sites will reopen when the city receives more vaccines, Garcetti said.
Garcetti stated that this does not affect anyone waiting for a second dose.
This past week, the city received 16,000 doses, that’s about the number of doses the city gives out every single day. “Our week’s supply is only one day’s supply,” he said.
In his response update, Garcetti said the city secured 90,000 doses from the week before and 29,000 the week before that.
“It is only fair that Los Angeles receives a steady supply to meet the moment our need,” he proclaimed.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) reported 3,434 new cases and 141 new deaths and 3,700 people were hospitalized countywide, the lowest hospitalization number in months, the mayor said.
“All data points are trending in the right direction,” he said. “But I need you to stay vigilant even as we wait for more doses.”
In the first week of mobile vaccination, the city administered over 1,700 shots. The pilot program was launched just last week to help meet the city’s mission to bring mobile vaccine to where people live.
Notwithstanding closing its five vaccination sites, the mayor announced that the city will keep the mobile vaccinations clinics going this week to areas where Angelenos living in some of the most impoverished, densest communities that are most transportation poor and to communities where residents have been infected and killed by the coronavirus at disproportionate rates.
Garcetti said he hopes to reopen the city’s five mass vaccination sites and restart the business up again on Tuesday or Wednesday – after the President’s Day holiday.
Mayor Garcetti speaks at his daily press conference on COVID-19 by Mayor of Los Angeles is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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