Vaccine: People 65 And Older Can Now Get It In Los Angeles County
LOS ANGELES — People 65 and older can begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines Wednesday, not Thursday as announced earlier, Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Tuesday.
An estimated 1.3 million county residents are 65 and older. The county has an adequate supply of vaccines to get through the week, but it's unclear how many more doses will be received next week, Ferrer said. The news arrives as Los Angeles County expanded vaccination distribution super sites Tuesday.
As of last week, the county received 685,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 70 percent of those doses were administered, Ferrer said. The county will receive another 168,000 doses Tuesday and Wednesday, but future allocations from the federal government are still uncertain, meaning appointments for the public to get vaccinated will remain limited, Ferrer said.
"Please note that patience is urged as supplies are limited," officials said in a statement Tuesday.
Vaccination appointments can be made online. People can also call 833-540-0473 between 8 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. for additional help.
Concerns about the supply of vaccines was heightened late Sunday, when the state epidemiologist warned providers to stop administering doses from a batch of 330,000 Moderna vaccines in response to allergic reactions suffered by a handful of people in San Diego. A California health official recommended the state stop using a batch of Moderna's vaccine, as possible allergic reactions occurred.
The 330,000 doses of Moderna vaccine no longer available represented 10 percent of all the vaccines received by the state so far — dealing a blow to counties such as Los Angeles that have been requesting more vaccine allocations to keep up with demand.
So short is the supply that the operators of the vaccination clinic at Dodger Stadium warned over the weekend they could run out of doses as early as Wednesday.
The affected Moderna vaccines were distributed to 287 locations across California. It was unclear if any of those locations were in Los Angeles County. The company announced it is investigating the allergic reactions, Reuters reports.
City News Service and Patch Editor Nicole Charky contributed to this report.
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This article originally appeared on the Los Angeles Patch
