Residents aged 16 and up will be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 at city-run sites in Los Angeles as early as Tuesday, officials said.
“Opening vaccine eligibility to all Angelenos who are 16 and older is a major milestone in our efforts to get more shots into more arms and defeat COVID-19 once and for all,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said Sunday.
“We urge patience as we continue to ramp up our operations, obtain more doses, and enter this new phase of our campaign to end the pandemic. But our commitment remains clear: as soon as vaccines are available, we are ready to administer them swiftly and safely.”
The vaccines can be scheduled online and are available to any Los Angeles County resident.
This week, the city would receive nearly 60,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and 56,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, with only 15,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine remaining in stock. Across its nine permanent sites and its Mobile Outreach for Vaccine Equity initiative, the city vaccination sites will be able to administer more than 130,000 doses to Angelenos, including nearly 60,000 first-dose appointments and 70,000 second-dose appointments, officials said.
The city is also taking over operations at the Cal State Los Angeles vaccine center from state officials. The team at Cal State LA will be led by the Los Angeles Fire Department, with assistance from Community Organized Relief Effort workers and others contracted locally for the site by FEMA.
The city will offer doses at San Fernando Park, Hansen Dam, Crenshaw Christian Center, Lincoln Park, Pierce College, USC University Park, Los Angeles Southwest College, and Dodger Stadium, in addition to Cal State LA.
Also on Sunday, Los Angeles County announced 546 new COVID-19 cases and 10 new deaths, but the lower number of deaths may be due to weekend reporting delays.
According to state statistics, the number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals fell from 492 on Saturday to 470 on Sunday, a day ahead of the county’s numbers. Intensive care patients with COVID decreased from 125 to 116.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the county’s totals since the pandemic started are 1,225,796 cases and 23,477 fatalities.
The department recorded 11 more cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children on Saturday.
The new MIS-C cases took the total number of MIS-C cases in the county to 169, with one child death. Both 169 children were admitted to the hospital, and 39% of them were admitted to the intensive care unit. 26 percent of the children with MIS-C were under the age of five, 31 percent were between the ages of five and nine, 27 percent were between the ages of ten and fourteen, and 16 percent were between the ages of fifteen and twenty. Children of Latino/Latinx descent account for 75% of the cases registered.
MIS-C is a severe inflammatory disease that affects children under the age of 21 and is linked to COVID-19. Fever that does not go down, as well as inflamed body parts such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs, are common symptoms. Parents with concerns about their child’s MIS-C symptoms should call their primary care physician or an urgent care facility.
Owing to what is expected to be a temporary shortage of one-dose Johnson & Johnson shots, the supply of doses in Los Angeles County will be reduced this week.
Although the reduction in the county-controlled supply is worrying — and poorly timed — other non-county or city suppliers that receive direct allocations from the state and federal governments are estimated to have around a half-million doses available in the county.
“Taken together, we estimate that well over 500,000 doses of vaccine will be allocated to vaccination sites across the county,” said Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer for the county health department.
According to Simon, the county’s vaccine allocation for the coming week is forecast to exceed 323,470. This is a 74,000-dose decrease from last week, due to a significant decline in the supply of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. Last week, the county received approximately 97,000 doses of the vaccine, but will only receive approximately 20,000 doses this week.
Pfizer and Moderna vaccine allocations would also increase, but not enough to compensate for the Johnson & Johnson dropoff, according to Simon. He is optimistic that the Johnson & Johnson supply will improve in the coming weeks, and that the county will be able to vaccinate the majority of the adult population by early summer.
