LA will provide COVID-19 vaccine to people 16 years and older from Tuesday

Los Angeles, CA — Residents over the age of 16 will be vaccinated against COVID-19 at the Los Angeles municipal site on Tuesday, officials said Sunday.

“Opening the vaccine eligibility to all Angelenos over the age of 16 puts more shots into more weapons and completely defeats COVID-19,” said Mayor Garsetti. It’s a major milestone in. ” “We urge patience as we enter this new phase of the campaign to expand our business, get more doses and end the pandemic, but our commitment is clear. Vaccines Is ready to be administered promptly and safely as soon as it becomes available. “

Vaccine reservations can be made at https://carbonhealth.com/covid-19-vaccines/los-angeles and are open to all residents of Los Angeles County.

The city will receive approximately 60,000 Moderna and 56,000 Pfizer vaccines this week, and is still receiving approximately 15,000 Johnson and Johnson vaccines. The city’s vaccination sites span more than 130,000 doses to Angelenos across nine permanent sites and the mobile outreach of the Vaccine Equity Program (including approximately 60,000 initial appointments and 70,000 second doses). Officials said it could do.

The city also takes over operations from the state authorities of the Los Angeles Vaccine Center, California. The Los Angeles Fire Department leads a team at California State University with the help of Community Organized Relief Effort staff and staff who have signed a local contract for the site through FEMA.

In addition to California State University, the city will provide doses to permanent locations at San Fernando Park, Hansen Dam, Clenshaw Christian Center, Lincoln Park, Piers Courage, USC University Park, Los Angeles Southwest College, and Dodger Stadium. ..

All sites are open Tuesday to Saturday from 8am to 4pm. Dodger Stadium only offers reservations this Tuesday through Thursday at 1:00 pm to support home games, but the site will remain open until 4:00 pm.

Also on Sunday, Los Angeles County reported 546 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 additional deaths, but the decline in deaths may reflect a delay in reporting over the weekend.

According to state figures, the number of coronavirus cases in county hospitals dropped from 492 on Saturday to 470 on Sunday. This is generally one day ahead of the county’s offer. The number of COVID patients in the intensive care unit has decreased from 125 to 116.

According to the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, Sunday numbers have resulted in a total of 1,225,796 cases and 23,477 deaths in the county since the pandemic began.

On Saturday, the department reported an additional 11 cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.

There are a total of 169 new cases of MIS-C in the county, including the death of one child. All 169 were hospitalized and 39% of the children were treated in the ICU. Of the children with MIS-C, 26% were under 5 years old, 31% were 5-9 years old, 27% were 10-14 years old, and 16% were 15-20 years old. Latino / Latino children make up 75% of reported cases.

MIS-C is a serious inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 that affects children under the age of 21. Symptoms include persistent fever and inflammation of parts of the body such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, and gastrointestinal organs. Parents whose children may have MIS-C symptoms are advised to contact their GP or emergency health care provider.

“While we have made remarkable progress with the COVID-19 epidemic in our county, there is still great sadness,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health, on Saturday. “… April is an important month on our COVID-19 recovery journey. In the last few weeks, businesses and public spaces have reopened and more people are out and around others. Increasingly, the chances of getting COVID-19 infections are even greater, especially if you do not comply with public health directives. Wearing face covers or being around others, as seen in many other states, keeps you away. If placed, the ability to proceed with the recovery journey is jeopardized. “

In Los Angeles County, dose supply will drop this week as the availability of single-dose shots of Johnson & Johnson is expected to be temporarily scarce.

However, while there are concerns about a reduction in county-managed supply and untimely timing, the available doses within the county are approximately 500,000, thanks to direct allocation from other non-county or city providers. Is expected to be. State and federal government.

Dr. Paul Simon, Chief Scientific Officer of the County Health Department, said:

According to Simon, the county’s vaccine allocations for next week are expected to total 323,470. This is a decrease of about 74,000 from last week, due to a significant reduction in the availability of single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The county vaccinated the vaccine about 97,000 times last week, but only about 20,000 this week.

Simon said both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccine county allocations would increase, but not enough to compensate for Johnson & Johnson’s drop-off. He is confident that Johnson & Johnson’s supply will recover in the coming weeks, and said that overall, the county will be vaccinated against many of its adult population by early summer.

“As long as people continue to present for vaccination at the pace we are doing, we will be able to reach where we want by late June,” Simon said. “… But for weeks as things were opened-and I saw this in the past when other groups were newly qualified-there was that rush for a week or two, and there’s no avoidance of it at all. To do.

“So I think we will encourage the people to be patient, but we are confident that we will be able to meet the needs of everyone in the coming weeks,” he said.

Simon also said that if everyone over the age of 16 qualifies, it creates additional challenges for people with less access to online booking sites, as the larger part of the population with more computer access will be crowded. I did.

“We are very concerned about the release of this qualification … for those who have low resources, poor ability to navigate these online booking systems, or are facing waiting on the phone line. , It will be more difficult to get a reservation, “he said. “And that can have the unfortunate consequence of exacerbating these disparities …. And we work with the community organizations that serve these communities, and it’s a little easier. Work really, really hard to make them. They get a promise. “

As of April 4, the county received a total of 4,715,894 vaccines, including a second vaccination of 1,652,149. Simon said that number represented an increase of 702,000 over the last nine days, meaning that an average of about 78,000 doses were given daily during that period.

— City News Service