California Governor Gavin Newsom opened this large scale vaccination site just a month ago in Cal State Los Angeles. This Vaccination site will cease its operation from April 11. This was announced by state and federal officials who manage the site.
The location was inaugurated in February and was supposed to be an eight-week pilot project. This project was supposed to showcase cooperative efforts between federal and state government. They were meant to provide combined efforts to target low-income areas that are affected by the coronavirus. Two sites for vaccination were considered as pilot projects, one in Los Angeles and another one in Oakland.
Because of this vaccination super site, Newsom brought vaccinations to the lower economic groups of California. This was an effective effort to balance vaccinations in underserved areas while reducing the quarantine restrictions that had been imposed.
It is very confusing as to why the federal and state officials are now closing this Los Angeles site as it has already provided over 200,000 vaccination doses. Two-thirds of these vaccinations were provided to people of colour as per FEMA officials.
Newsom had announced this week that all the citizens that are over the age of 50 will be eligible for vaccination from April 1 and everyone over 16 can get vaccinated from April 15. As soon as this was announced, the next day the site was announced to be closed down.
The L.A. Public Health officials made a statement saying, “Expanding vaccine eligibility over the next couple of weeks will make it easier for more people to get vaccinated provided the County receives more doses.” Health officials have been constantly complaining about the low number of doses available. There is very little clarity about upcoming shipments. L.A. Country provided second vaccination shots this week because they had no idea about when to expect more supply. The County believes it is wiser to provide second doses to people who have received the first dose instead of giving people one shot without any clarity as to when the second one will be available.
Newsom had made a big vaccine eligibility announcement earlier on March 15 as well. He had announced that the vaccine will be available for everyone from 16 to 65 years of age with underlying health issues. That consisted of approximately 4.4 million Californians.
The timing of that announcement was not considered great. Marta Green called it a challenging moment. She is a state official who is overseeing the third party vaccine administrator. Green said,’“When we look at the concrete information we have that 3-week projection from the CDC, I hate to tell you this, it is entirely flat. There is not a single [additional] dose. Not one.”
No commitment has been made as to what this site will be used for after it is closed as a vaccination location.
With this super site closing, they are currently providing only second doses of Pfizer vaccines to anyone and everyone who has already received the first done. From April 1, they will only provide single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccines.
