LA County is lagging behind other Southern California counties in opening up vaccinations to people 65 and older, but county health officials say their goal is to offer the vaccine to that age group in early February – a goal that according to them depends on the vaccine delivery.
Currently, LA County offers the vaccine only to health and skilled residents and nursing facility staff, despite the state’s opening up to residents 65 and older. County officials say they do not yet have adequate doses locally to start opening up vaccinations to residents of that age group.
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Health officials say there are about 1.3 million people 65 and older in the province, with a population of 10 million. More information about vaccine distribution in the province is available on its website.
There are reports that states will not receive their expected vaccine shipments from the national stockpile next week because the federal reserve of doses has already been used up. Gavin Newsom says California has already received 3 million doses and more is expected to come from the federal government.
Newsom says California expected to receive hundreds of thousands of doses and they are still trying to get answers from the Trump administration and are working with the incoming Biden administration to get answers about when they could get more vaccines.
As LA County approaches 1 million COVID-19 cases, the county announced on Friday that five additional mass vaccination centers will be opened. Dodger Stadium is open as a vaccination site on Friday.
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The new locations will start with vaccinations on Tuesday and will be able to vaccinate 4,000 people per day at each location. The province hopes to have completed an additional 500,000 vaccinations by the end of the month. The new supersites come on:
– Fairplex in Pomona
– The forum in Inglewood
– Cal State University in Northridge
LA County Office of Education in Downey
– Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia
Meanwhile, local leaders, such as LA City Council Chairman Nury Martinez, are pushing to create a waiting list for people 65 and older and for those on the front lines as vital workers to get more people vaccinated faster.
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