Los Angeles stadium vaccine site to close over massive shortages

The COVID-19 vaccine site at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, along with four other locations in the city, will temporarily close due to massive shortages, Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) said.

The mayor announced on Wednesday that the city’s five walk-up and drive-through sites will shut down starting on Friday for at least two days. The sites could reopen on Tuesday or Wednesday, he predicted. 

Garcetti slammed the vaccine supply provided to the city, which is expected to be depleted on Thursday, as “unpredictable,” “uneven” and “unacceptable.” He noted that Los Angeles received 16,000 new doses this week, slightly more than the total it administers per day. Los Angeles received 90,000 doses last week and 29,000 doses the week before that, he added. 

“We’re vaccinating people faster than new vials are arriving here in Los Angeles and I’m very concerned right now,” the mayor said during a press briefing.

“This is an enormous hurdle in our race to vaccinate Angelenos,” he added. 

Garcetti emphasized scheduled second doses will not be affected, but “it will prevent us from moving forward with new first doses.” 

He said he did not want to “point fingers” but noted that other cities with smaller populations than Los Angeles are receiving more doses.

“I don’t want to single dose away from them, but it is only fair that Los Angeles receives a steady supply to meet the moment of our need,” he added.

The city will keep open mobile sites that it deployed in South Los Angeles, where a disproportionate amount of residents have been infected and killed by COVID-19.

Overall, Los Angeles has given out 293,252 vaccines with an average of 13,051 inoculations daily.

Spikes in cases, deaths and hospitalizations in late December and early January and have since begun to level off in Los Angeles, according to county data. 

The county has a seven-day average testing positivity rate of 8.4 percent, lower than the 20 percent recorded around New Year’s Day but still above the 5 percent threshold experts want to see before considering reopening.