LA City Plans To Phase Out Large-Scale Vaccine Sites By August

LOS ANGELES, CA — The city of Los Angeles is planning to phase out its large-scale COVID-19 vaccination sites by August in a move to increase mobile clinics, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Friday.

"Vaccines are the path to ending this pandemic, and we've worked day and night to get shots into Angelenos' arms at our mass vaccination sites, our mobile clinics, and neighborhoods across our city," Garcetti said.

"We will always meet and exceed the demand," Garcetti said. "With a growing number of residents getting inoculated, we are putting our resources where they will do the most good — delivering doses directly to undervaccinated communities, engaging and educating vulnerable populations, and eliminating barriers to this life-saving vaccine."

Adding more mobile clinics aims to keep vaccinating vulnerable populations who might not have access to transportation or flexible schedules. The city plans to target mobile vaccine programs in communities hardest hit by the pandemic and with the lowest rates of vaccination. This includes primarily Black and Latino neighborhoods in the city.

Health officials have emphasized that mobile vaccination clinics are in demand as the need at large-scale vaccine sites run by the city has waned. The sites are still open but the city is pushing to increase mobile vaccine efforts coming up.

The Pierce College vaccine site in Woodland Hills will close June 19 and the Los Angeles Southwest College site will close June 26. Other remaining large-scale sites run by the city are slated to close by Aug. 1. The Dodger Stadium vaccine distribution location closed Thursday.

The city continues to partner with Community Organized Relief Effort, or CORE, which was co-founded by actor Sean Penn. CORE will work to administer vaccines in the mobile program.

"CORE remains committed to acting quickly and evolving with the ever-changing state of the pandemic to best serve the community," the organization's CEO, Ann Lee, said in a statement.

"CORE will continue to work closely with L.A. City, LAFD and our staff to reallocate resources according to the needs of the community, and we will continue to keep our team notified of any changes related to the COVID-19 relief program," Lee said.

In South Los Angeles, which been severely impacted by the pandemic, MLK Community Healthcare and Amazon are partnering to bring two weeks of COVID-19 mobile vaccination clinics in the area through June 11. People can schedule and book a vaccine at one of the locations using the website.

"At the height of the recent winter surge, MLK Community Hospital treated more COVID patients than significantly larger area hospitals," organizers said. "Populations of color, particularly the LatinX community, have suffered acutely from COVID-19. Amazon is partnering with MLKCH to assist the hospital’s ongoing work to reach this hard-hit and often underserved community."

To continue encouraging people to get vaccinated, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is also offering a pair of free Lakers tickets for the 2021-2022 season in a contest. Angelenos are encouraged to book an appointment this weekend and get vaccinated for a chance to land the season tickets.

Get vaccinated at select vaccination sites this weekend for the chance to enter the @Lakers 2021-22 Season Ticket Vaccination Sweepstakes and win a pair (2) of season tickets for next season! Official rules at: https://t.co/h6lI8WJ6da pic.twitter.com/L5R8TDeNEs
— LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) May 20, 2021

As of Friday, the county has confirmed 15 new deaths and 264 new cases of COVID-19. Of the 15 new deaths reported Friday, six people who died were over the age of 80, one person who died was between the ages of 65 and 79, four people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64, two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49, and one person who died was between the ages of 18 and 29. One death was reported by the City of Long Beach.

To date, Public Health identified 1,238,367 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 24,154 deaths. There are 355 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 23% of these people are in the ICU. Testing results are available for nearly 6,682,000 individuals with 17% of people testing positive. Friday's daily test positivity rate is 0.4%.

- City News Service and Patch Editor Nicole Charky contributed to this report.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 2:56 p.m. with additional information about the most recent coronavirus cases and deaths provided by the county.

For more news and information about the vaccine rollout in California, visit Patch's information hub. Also, be sure to check out How To Get The Coronavirus Vaccine In California.

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