By Luis Castilla
A temporary drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination site opened at East Los Angeles College Wednesday.
The site is located on the first floor of the P3 parking structure.
“These vaccination sites are just like the many others throughout the state where eligible residents can make appointments to get their COVID vaccine,” Public Information Officer Kevin Jimenez said.
Students received an email last Tuesday informing them about the opening site and links for a.m. and p.m. appointments for the three days the site will be active.
The California Department of Health, which also runs the COVID-19 testing site that has been active at ELAC since April, will also manage this site.
The COVID-19 vaccine is free to everyone.
The State allocates vaccines to counties and local health jurisdictions which then allocate to providers like ELAC, based on available supply of vaccine.”
Sami Gallegos
The site received a limited number of doses.
“The state allocates vaccines to counties and local health jurisdictions which then allocate to providers like ELAC, based on available supply of vaccine,” Senior Public Information Officer for the CDPH Sami Gallegos said.
No additional dates have been announced for the ELAC vaccination site. “It is only for those three dates as far as I know. They did not mention any additional vaccination dates,” Jimenez said.
Currently, those in Phase 1A and Phase 1B of CDPH’s vaccine eligibility guidelines are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Phase 1A includes people working in healthcare and those who require long-term care.
Phase 1B includes food and agricultural workers, educators and childcare workers, emergency service workers, people 65 and older and people 16 and older who are at high risk for mortality.
The hardest-hit communities are in focus as the state pushes vaccine availability and accessibility.
According to the CDPH website, as of Wednesday, 3,234,989 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in L.A. County with about half of those being second doses. This number is updated weekly.
With a population of about 10 million, L.A. County has vaccinated roughly one fifth of its citizens.
COVID-19 positivity, hospitalizations and deaths are all in a decline according to data on the L.A. County Public Health website.
L.A. County entered the red tier of CA’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” last week, allowing for restaurants to maintain an indoor capacity of 25%, K-12 schools to reopen with restrictions, movie theaters, museums and zoos to reopen at 25% capacity and gyms to open at 10% capacity.
L.A. County may move into the orange tier in early April if numbers continue to fall.