Los Angeles Vaccination Super Site Closing Just Weeks After It Opened And One Day After Newsom Expands Eligibility
A little more than a month after opening with much fanfare from California Governor Gavin Newsom, the large-scale vaccination site at Cal State Los Angeles will cease operations on April 11, federal and state officials managing the location announced today.
The location was opened in February as an eight-week pilot project, marking a cooperative effort between the state and federal governmenttargeting lower-income areashard hit by the pandemic. The partnership included two vaccination sites — one at Cal State Los Angeles and the other in Oakland
Newsom has made vaccinating those in California’slowest economic quartilecentral to the state’s reopening effort, tying the loosening of restrictions to success in getting underserved communities vaccinated.
Given that, it’s unclear why state and federal officials decided to close the Cal State L.A. site, which has administered more than 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, with roughly two-thirds of those shots administered at the sites have been to under-served communities and people of color, according to FEMA officials.
Even more puzzling is that the revelation comes one day after Newsom announced the state will make all residents over 50 eligible for the vaccine on April 1 and all of those over 16 eligible on April 15. Such an expansion would seem to require one of the state’s biggest sites.
It’s not the first time a state vaccination decision has caused some cognitive dissonance. Newsom’s announcement yesterday was met with measured enthusiasm by L.A. Public Health officials. They issued a carefully-worded 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.” Those final six words are key.
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https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/los-angeles-vaccination-super-closing-190511262.html