CDC chief touts vaccines in L.A.
Just after receiving a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 7-year-old Allan Fernandez turned around for a hearty high-five.
The recipient was a surprise guest at the impromptu inoculation: Dr. Rochelle Walensky, one of the nation’s leading public health officials.
Walensky stopped by the vaccination site at Ted Watkins Memorial Park on Thursday afternoon as part of her first official visit to Los Angeles since becoming director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention early last year.
The occasion was festive and not just because the site was decked out for Cinco de Mayo.
“It’s really inspiring and motivating and joyous, right?” Walensky said later during an interview with The Times. “It’s Cinco de Mayo, there are balloons and guitars, there are children playing in sunshine in the park, and then there’s information that is literally brought to them where they are, where parents can ask their questions and then their kids can roll up their sleeves.”
In many ways, the event was a snapshot of the current state of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The earliest phases of the rollout were marked with demand that far outstripped supply — prompting some to go to great lengths in hopes of securing one of the precious doses.
But now that the vaccines have been widely available for more than a year, Walensky acknowledged that everyone who was eager to get a vaccine has probably already gotten one.
Now, she said, the campaign has entered a distinct new phase, in which officials must “talk to people who didn’t run up to be first in line, who needed a little bit more information, who might need a conversation or two or three or four before they’re really ready.”
“People have frequently asked me, ‘How do you convince somebody to get vaccinated?’ ” she said. “And the answer is you stop talking and you listen.”
Overall, L.A. County enjoys a relatively robust level of vaccination coverage. More than 83% of residents ages 5 and older have gotten at least one dose, and 75% have completed their primary vaccination series, county data show.
But increasing those figures has been slow going.
By Feb. 1, just about 7.96 million Angelenos had received at least one shot. But over the following three months, only about 159,000 additional people rolled up their sleeves for the first time.
Health experts also have sounded the alarm regarding stubborn disparities in the vaccine rollout. Countywide, officials project that nearly 89% of Asian American residents have received at least one shot, as have 86% of Native Americans and 79% of white residents.
However, the same is true of only about two-thirds of Latino residents and 61% of Black residents.
One of the county’s strategies for addressing such disparities entails sites like the one at Ted Watkins. The idea is less pop-up clinic and more fixture — a place where community members can drop by to access not only COVID-19 vaccines but also a variety of health resources.
Walensky said she thinks the widespread availability of vaccines, tests and therapeutics have helped level the pandemic playing field.
“We have so many tools right now,” she said. “And really, the goal is to be able to get back to our daily lives, get back to the things that we love and to be able to live with this virus.”