L.A. to close more mass vaccination sites
Two locations will shut down in June as inoculation rate slows and city shifts its focus to mobile clinics.
Mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics run by the city of Los Angeles will begin to shut down over the next two months as the city expands its program of mobile clinics.
The Dodger Stadium mass vaccination site closed Thursday, and the city said the site at Pierce College will shut June 19, while the one at Los Angeles Southwest College will halt vaccinations June 26.
By Aug. 1, the city expects to transition its vaccination program entirely to mobile clinics, which will pop up in places with heavy traffic and at special events, as well as in areas with low vaccination rates and highly vulnerable populations. The mobile clinics will offer evening and weekend hours.
“We are putting our resources where they will do the most good — delivering doses directly to undervaccinated communities,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement.
The city’s vaccination program has administered 1.3 million doses; that’s about 14% of all doses administered across Los Angeles County. Of the doses the city has administered, 68% have gone to people of color.
The city’s changes do not affect the vaccination sites run by L.A. County, which include the Forum (Inglewood), Balboa Sports Complex (Encino), College of the Canyons (Santa Clarita), Cal State Northridge, Eugene A. Obregon Park (East L.A.), Pomona Fairplex, L.A. County Office of Education (Downey) and the Palmdale Oasis Park Recreation Center.
L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer has said there are no plans to wind down the county’s vaccination sites.
The vaccination rate in California peaked in early April, when about 400,000 doses were administered daily. The daily rate is now about 227,000, up slightly over the past few days.
L.A. County continues to have big disparities in who is getting vaccinated. Among those ages 16 to 64, only 34% of Black residents and 42% of Latino residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 57% of white and Native American residents and 67% of Asian American residents are at least partially vaccinated.
California has done relatively well with its vaccination program, ranking 12th in the nation in terms of percentage of residents vaccinated.
According to The Times’ tracker, 52% of both California and L.A. County residents have received at least one shot of vaccine. San Diego County and a number of Bay Area counties have done even better, with vaccination rates of 64% to 73%.
But some counties in the Central Valley, the rural north and the Inland Empire are lagging; San Bernardino County, for instance, reports that only 38% of its residents are at least partially vaccinated, and Kern County reports just 35%.
In addition to L.A., other California agencies have said they’ll wind down mass vaccination sites and shift to mobile clinics.
Orange County will close its mass vaccination sites at the Anaheim Convention Center, O.C. Fair & Event Center, Soka University and Santa Ana College on June 6.
In the Bay Area, officials will close the Oakland Coliseum mass vaccination site on Sunday.