Once fully operational, the new sites will be able to vaccinate 4,000 people a day at each site. The county expects to complete an additional 500,000 vaccines by the end of the month.
The new super sites are at:
“People will stay in their cars and drive around the place, where they will be examined, make sure they have an appointment, make sure they have an ID. They will be vaccinated and depend on whether you have to watch them for 15 or 30 minutes, here they will be and they will continue to be in your car throughout the process, ”Marco Rodriguez told the Los Angeles Fire Department.
How to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine in Southern California
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department said she was delighted to receive her second dose of vaccine at CSUN.
“It’s a hopeful moment for all of us. It’s a historic moment. I mean a few months ago we were here testing COVID and now we’re doing vaccines, so today it feels very special,” Lydia Garillas said.
On Tuesday, all venues will open by appointment only from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but will open at 9 a.m. starting Wednesday. According to the county Department of Public Health website, appointments for Tuesday at CSUN and the Fairplex were already booked.
A forecast of strong winds across the region caused Orange County officials to temporarily close the vaccination site at Disneyland. Still, the five new locations in Los Angeles opened as scheduled despite the winds.
The Solis order will allow residents 65 and older to start getting vaccines starting Thursday, despite health officials ’desire to finish inoculating medical workers amid a limited supply of drugs.
The state opened vaccine eligibility to people 65 and older earlier this month, but Los Angeles County had lagged behind other Southern California counties in opening vaccines to that group.
County public health director Barbara Ferrer said last week that the county would not offer vaccines to people 65 and older until the vaccines of front-line health workers were completed. This process was expected to last until the end of the month.
Ferrer noted that expanding the availability of shots depended largely on the local supply of vaccines.
It was not immediately known what impact the Solis order would have on the county’s supply of vaccines and its ability to complete vaccinations for health workers.
The county health department says it currently has enough shots on hand to care for 50,000 people.
“Today and tomorrow we will get our allocations for this week, so we will compete for distribution, which should surpass us next Monday. And then we just have to see how many doses we will receive for next week,” he said. Dr. Ferrer.
Meanwhile, many Los Angeles County firefighters are already undergoing their second vaccination.
Fire Chief Daryl Osby received the follow-up dose.
The chief says 75% of his department has been vaccinated and that infection rates have plummeted after the first dose.
“The people who now receive COVID are the ones who have not been vaccinated, so the first shot is doing very well in relation to preventing our members from receiving COVID-19,” he said.
Getting all firefighters vaccinated, however, is tricky. The boss says he can’t legally demand it, so he hopes scenes like Tuesday’s in Downey will inspire the rest of his department to get the shots.
City News Service contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2021 KABC-TV. All rights reserved.