Six Flags vaccine site to close
L.A. County: College of the Canyons and Oasis Park will be its replacements
Los Angeles County will be closing the massive vaccination site at Six Flags Magic Mountain on Sunday and replacing it a day later with two new sites not far away, one at College of the Canyons and the other at Palmdale Oasis Park Recreation Center.
The two sites expect to serve residents up to 2,000 residents each from both the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valley communities as the county prepares this week to welcome all residents and workers 16 years of age and over to receive a free coronavirus vaccine.
Roughly 129,000 vaccines were administered at Magic Mountain, which began operating in January 2021.
Meanwhile, the county
continues to expand its overall vaccination network as it shifts efforts to more communitybased sites, now up to more than 700 locations including community clinics, pharmacies, popup sites and mobile vans.
In recent weeks, the county also ramped up how many doses it was administering at the five large-scale vaccination sites up to roughly 4,000 injections per day. The county’s network of providers still has far more capacity to deliver vaccines than it does supply, putting the county in good shape, officials say, as it expects more shipments in what is shaping up to be the nation’s largest vaccination effort in history.
As event venues and amusement parks such as Magic Mountain and Dodger Stadium began reopening in recent weeks, city and county officials were forced to assess the future of vaccine clinics in their parking lots.
Other mass vaccination sites such as the one at Pomona Fairplex will continue. There is no word yet on what might happen with the Forum site where concerts may resume soon. The two other sites, one at Cal State University L.A, and the other at L.A. County Office of Education in Downey, will also continue until further notice.
City of Los Angeles officials have not yet said what they plan to do with the Dodger Stadium site they operate, which continues even as home games take place. So far, however, with limited spectators, parking lot space has not been a problem.
“Ensuring equitable vaccine access for communities in the North County is a priority,” said L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger (District 5), “and I appreciate the collaboration between the County and our community partners, including Magic Mountain, to run efficient operations that support our monumental task of vaccinating our residents. Moving forward, we are continuing to provide crucial vaccine accessibility for residents in both the Antelope and Santa Clarita Valleys.”
L.A. County has administered now more than 5.1 million vaccine doses, including roughly 1.85 million second doses. About 70% of residents 65 and over have now been fully vaccinated. But the county still has a long way to go.
Health care workers are administering close to 80,000 doses per day in L.A. County, putting the region on pace to reach herd immunity by June.
The county’s allocation of doses this week stands to be a little shorter than last week, however, down about 73,000 doses due to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine shortages, down to about 323,000 doses. An additional roughly 200,000 doses are expected to be allocated directly from federal sources.
“The partnership with Six Flags Magic Mountain has proven invaluable to the County’s vaccination efforts, as the site provided vaccine to so many residents living in our hardest-hit communities” said L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. “We are forever grateful for their partnership, and are committed to providing vaccines to northern Los Angeles County residents through these two additional sites.”