LA County COVID Vaccine Super Sites Only Giving Out Second Doses This Week
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Due to an extreme shortage in the coronavirus vaccine, Los Angeles County vaccination sites will only be giving out second doses beginning Tuesday and lasting through at least the end of this week.
The L.A. County Public Health Department reported Saturday that "due to short supply of vaccines from the state" all county super sites will only be administering COVID-19 doses to those who have already received their first dose. This protocol will begin on Tuesday.
"We're going to see this play out across the state working with our local partners, working with our third-party administrator as we advance that contract to really come up with some clear guidance on this first and second dose issue," Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of California Health and Human Services, said.
People will be required to show documentation that they have received their first dose.
The city of Pasadena, which has its own health department, told CBSLA it plans to give out only second doses for at least the next two weeks.
There are seven large-scale vaccination sites being run by the L.A. County Public Health Department. They are located at Magic Mountain, the Pomona Fairplex, The Forum, Cal State Northridge, El Sereno Recreation Center, the L.A. County Office of Education in Downey and the Balboa Sports Complex in Encino.
Meanwhile, there are another five large-scale vaccination sites operated by the city of L.A., of which Dodger Stadium is by far the largest. It's unclear if the second-dose mandate will apply to the city sites as well.
A mass vaccination site operated by a consortium of healthcare providers including Kaiser Permanente opened last Friday at Cal Poly Pomona.
There are also dozens of small vaccination sites at clinics and pharmacies countywide.
California has struggled mightily to distribute vaccinations over the past several weeks, with a myriad of issues ranging from the supply shortage to vaccine sign-up websites being overwhelmed and crashing.
According to the latest state numbers, through Sunday more than 1.155 million doses have been administered in L.A. County, and 4.65 million have been administered across California.
However, 7.392 million doses have been shipped, and of those 6.963 have been actually delivered to distribution sites.
In L.A. County at this time, only healthcare workers, nursing home residents and those over 65 are eligible to receive the vaccine.
