LA City Vaccination Sites Reopen Tuesday After Weather-Delayed Shipments Finally Arrive
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — COVID-19 vaccination sites run by the city of Los Angeles will reopen Tuesday after being shuttered last week because of winter storms which hit several parts of the U.S., halting shipments carrying tens of thousands of doses of the vaccine.
The sites — Dodger Stadium, Crenshaw, Hansen, Lincoln, San Fernando, and Pierce College – were shut down Friday after severe weather delaying shipments of at least 63,000 doses.
On Monday night, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti confirmed in an email that the delayed shipments had arrived. The six super sites will resume this week providing "mostly second dose appointments and a limited number of first dose appointments."
People who had appointments Friday or Saturday of last week were to have automatically been rescheduled for a new appointment by Monday night.
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Anyone who received their first dose between Jan. 24 and Jan. 30 will get a notification for a second dose appointment by the end of the day Tuesday.
A text message and email with appointment detail will go out from Carbon Health by Tuesday, city officials said. Those people were urged to check their Carbon accounts to ensure their contact information was accurate.
The extreme weather further exacerbated a vaccine supply crisis which has roiled the entire Southland region. The L.A. County-operated super sites have for the past two weeks been only able to administer second-doses because of the very limited supply.
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Currently, only healthcare workers and those over 65 are eligible for the vaccine in L.A. County. However, beginning March 1, that will be expanded to teachers, food and agriculture workers, law enforcement officers and emergency services workers.
The weather, meanwhile, last week also shut down vaccine super sites in Orange County, and limited county sites to distributing second doses only.
