FEMA opens mass vaccine sites as bad weather hampers efforts.
FEMA opened its first COVID-19 mass vaccination sites Tuesday, setting up in Los Angeles and Oakland as part of an effort by the Biden administration to get shots into arms more quickly and reach minority communities hit hard by the outbreak.
Snowy and icy weather across much of the U.S., meanwhile, forced the cancellation of some vaccination events and threatened to disrupt vaccine deliveries over the next few days. Houston’s public health agency lost power and had to scramble to give out thousands of shots before they spoiled.
The developments came as the vaccination drive ramps up. The U.S. is administering an average of about 1.67 million doses per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, deaths are down sharply over the past six weeks, and new cases have plummeted.
Nearly 39.7 million Americans, or about 12 percent of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 15 million have gotten both shots, the CDC said.
Deaths are running at about 2,400 per day on average, down by more than 900 from their peak in mid-January. And the average number of new cases per day has dropped to about 85,000, the lowest in 3 ½ months. That’s down from a peak of almost a quarter-million per day in early January. The overall U.S. death toll is at nearly 490,000.
In the early morning in Los Angeles, several dozen cars already were lined up with people sitting inside reading newspapers and passing the time, a half-hour before the 9 a.m. opening of the country’s first mass vaccination site run with assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Troops in camouflage fatigues stood around the sprawling parking lot at California State University, Los Angeles, where some 40 white tents were erected and dozens of orange cones put in place to guide traffic.
The site, set up in heavily Latino East L.A. as part of an effort to reach communities that have suffered disproportionately from the coronavirus, aims to vaccinate up to 6,000 people a day. Another such site opened at the Oakland Coliseum, near working-class Black and Latino neighborhoods.
The Los Angeles vaccination site is “proximate to a community that has been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said. “The effort here is to address that issue forthrightly.”
The Biden administration intends to establish 100 such federally assisted vaccination sites nationwide in cooperation with state authorities.
The administration is increasing the amount of vaccine sent to states to 13.5 million doses per week, a 57 percent increase from when Biden took office nearly a month ago, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced.
Psaki also said the administration is doubling to 2 million doses per week the amount of vaccine being sent to pharmacies across the U.S. as part of a program to improve access in neighborhoods.