Deal will keep vaccine hub at Coliseum open
FEMA site, set to close Sunday, will be operated by state, counties
The Oakland Coliseum’s parking lot will remain a regional COVID-19 vaccination hub for at least several more weeks beyond its previously scheduled closure Sunday, but whether it’ll be able to continue putting shots into 6,000 arms a day is up in the air.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that both the Oakland Coliseum and the Cal State Los Angeles mass-vaccination sites set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency would stay “operational,” though in the hands of state and
county health officials.
The announcement should ease some of the pressure that thousands of Bay Area residents will be facing in the coming weeks as more people become eligible for doses and find themselves in a scramble to book precious appointments.
FEMA shook up some local and state officials a few days ago when it signaled its intention to stop managing the two big Northern and Southern California sites on April 11 after declaring its eight-week vaccination mission there accomplished.
Local officials quickly responded by urging FEMA to stick around at least a few weeks longer so the federal government can continue to deliver vaccines directly to the Coliseum and ensure a smooth transition of the site into their hands.
Newsom confirmed Tuesday that although FEMA will hand over the reins to state and county officials, it will at least cover the costs of managing the site and paying those administering the shots.
And while the federal government won’t deliver the vaccines directly anymore, Newsom said he expects “there will be no perceptible change, in a meaningful way, to the public.”
The state will provide vaccines and work with FEMA and Alameda and Contra Costa counties to operate the Coliseum site, he said.
County and state officials are still determining how many shots they’ll have available, and it’s unclear whether the Coliseum site will be able to administer vaccines at the current rate of about 6,000 a day.
Neetu Balram, a spokesperson for the Alameda County Public Health Department, said county leaders “continue working with the state to explore options for the extension of service at the Oakland Coliseum through state and local partnerships” and that “steady and predictable vaccine supply is necessary to ensure the site is sustainable and meets local needs.”
Over the past week, however, county leaders have been worrying there could be a drop-off in the number of vaccines available when FEMA pulls its supply.
Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and Colleen Chawla, director of the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, both urged FEMA in separate letters sent Friday to keep the Coliseum site running at its current capacity as the state builds up its vaccine supply.
“While the vaccine third party administrator, Blue Shield, projects an increase in vaccine in the future, meaningful increases in supply are not expected in the coming weeks,” Carson wrote.
Vaccines currently delivered to the Coliseum go not only to people who make appointments and drive through the parking lot but also to mobile vaccination clinics that bring the vaccines to churches and other public gathering spots.
The mobile units were created in an attempt to distribute vaccines to those in neighborhoods hard hit by the virus and to those unable to navigate online registration systems.
As of Monday, the vaccine sites at both Cal State Los Angeles and the Oakland Coliseum had administered a combined 625,000 doses, with nearly 90,000 of those through the mobile clinics.
Almost 68% of the vaccines across both sites were given to “targeted underserved communities and people of color,” according to a news release from the state’s Office of Emergency Services.
The county and state officials running the Coliseum vaccine site will have to make sure equitable distribution continues even as FEMA stops its supply.
Early last month, state officials announced California would dedicate 40% of its COVID-19 vaccine supplies to people at the bottom 25% of the state’s socioeconomic ladder in order to expand access to communities hardest hit by the virus.
The news comes as government officials have also pledged to reopen the state more fully as more people are vaccinated.
If vaccines are widely available and cases remain low, the state could remove most pandemic restrictions this summer.