Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium will be launched as a mass vaccination site starting Friday morning, City Mayor Eric Garcetti announced at a press conference on Thursday.
The site, dubbed the “largest vaccination site in the country” by the mayor, will have the capacity to vaccinate 12,000 people per day. According to Garcetti, an entire workforce has been deployed to administer the vaccines.
“This vaccine is safe, this vaccine is safe,” he stressed repeatedly, urging residents to get the vaccine as soon as they become eligible.
‘It is your civic duty when it is your turn to receive that vaccine. It is an act of love for your fellow citizen as it will save someone’s life or many people’s lives, and it is a step forward in reopening our schools and our economy. “
Who can get the vaccine: In Los Angeles County, the vaccine is currently only available to health professionals and seniors living in retirement homes and skilled nursing facilities. While the province has about 1 million health workers, Garcetti said about half of them have not yet received the vaccine.
“The bottom line is that we don’t have enough vaccines,” said Garcetti.
He also said some locations may be reserving their allotment of vaccines to administer the second dose to their health professionals.
With the opening of Dodger Stadium and five additional vaccination sites out of the county, Garcetti said he expects hundreds of thousands to be vaccinated every week.
What’s happening in Los Angeles County: The province has reported a total of 975,299 coronavirus cases and 13,234 deaths.
Hospitals and health workers are still overwhelmed by hospital admissions, and 7,906 people are currently being hospitalized with coronavirus, 21% of them in intensive care.
Garcetti said that while there are early signs that hospital admissions in the province may be stabilizing, it’s not even “ almost out of the woods. ”