L.A. Mayor Garcetti receives his first dose of the COVID vaccine, aide says

Dakota Smith
·2 min read
Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday on a Facebook Live video that 42 recreation centers will be converted into shelters for homeless residents, aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Mayor Eric Garcetti received his first coronavirus shot last week, an aide said. (Los Angeles Times )

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is certainly younger than 65. And he isn't a healthcare worker.

But the mayor is on the front lines of the pandemic response, according to aides. So Garcetti, who turns 50 next week, received a COVID-19 vaccination last Thursday.

Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar said the mayor got his first dose after he spent five days at Dodger Stadium helping with the vaccination effort and "directly interacting with hundreds of Angelenos each day."

"The medical personnel strongly recommended that he receive the vaccine as they have recommended and provided for other field staff and volunteers at the site who have close contact with clients," Comisar said.

Garcetti was also at Dodger Stadium Wednesday, Comisar said.

In a process that could take months, L.A. County is vaccinating healthcare workers, long-term care facility residents, and people 65 and older.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer faced questions about the rocky rollout at a City Council hearing Wednesday.

"I know some people found it very easy to get vaccinated and others very difficult," said City Councilman Paul Koretz. "We hear about the short supply overall, but also that some locations wind up with excess supplies because not everyone takes their shot."

Ferrer acknowledged the problems, including the lack of supply coming in to the county. She said the state is looking to create a streamlined patient registration system and a network of providers who will be administering the vaccine.

Amid concern that people in neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic, including parts of South L.A. and the eastern San Fernando Valley, aren't able to access the doses, Ferrer said mobile units will be available.

She also said that six new sites that will open up South L.A. next week, including at a pharmacy and health center.

City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson described visiting some of the vaccination sites and expressed concern that community members were being left out.

"I visited the Forum, I visited Crenshaw Christian Center when we were doing it there. I'm just going to be frank about it — the people at those sites did not reflect the community," he said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.