LA County to close large vaccination sites, transition to community sites
LOS ANGELES - As the demand of the COVID-19 vaccine continues to decrease, Los Angeles County will close its four large-scale vaccination sites.
Those sites will be transitioned into smaller community sites.
On June 7, the county will close the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) vaccination site and transition to providing vaccines to residents at the Balboa Sports Complex. Those that have received their first dose at CSUN will now have appointments for their second dose at Balboa Sports Complex.
After Sunday, June 13, the county will transition the other three large capacity vaccination sites located at The Forum, Pomona Fairplex, and L.A County Office of Education to nearby community sites.
Beginning Tuesday, June 15, residents can go to the following community vaccination sites:
- Ted Watkins Memorial Park
- Commerce Senior Citizens Center
- Norwalk Arts & Sports Complex
"It is clear that we need to double-down on efforts to make it as easy as possible to get a vaccine and build trust in COVID-19 vaccines,'' Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement.
"Many residents have important questions that need to be answered and their concerns are valid.
Our job is to continue to be transparent and honest as we share information on vaccine safety and efficacy.''
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Ferrer said that the slowed pace of vaccinations means it will take the county until late August to reach the target of getting 80% of the population at least partially vaccinated.
RELATED: LA City to phase out large-scale COVID vaccine sites by Aug. 1
"We're currently administering about 100,000 vaccinations to L.A. County residents each week, and have about 1.1 million more first doses to go before 80% of all L.A. County residents 16 and older have received at least one vaccine,'' County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a virtual media briefing on Wednesday.
"If we keep vaccinating at the same rate we've been going for the past two weeks, it will take us until late August to reach this goal. And obviously we would like for this to happen sooner, so we're hoping with easier access and more opportunities to get questions answered about vaccine safety,
we can increase the number of doses we're administering each week.''
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At the peak of the vaccination effort, about 500,000 doses of vaccine were being administered weekly in the county.
According to figures released by Ferrer, roughly 64% of county residents age 16 and older have received at least one dose so far, while roughly 53% of residents in that age bracket are fully vaccinated.
City News Service contributed to this report