In the first major expansion of the vaccine eligibility list, Los Angeles County announced on Monday that all healthcare workers can now receive vaccines, including employees from primary and urgent care clinics, research labs, pharmacies and dental offices.
The announcement follows last week’s guidance from the state and opens the list of eligibility for the highest priority group. This pool includes health professionals in hospitals and nursing homes who deal directly with infected or high-risk patients. Authorities have expanded the list to speed up the vaccine’s release and ensure that leftover doses of the vaccine are not wasted.
By the end of the month, the county plans to vaccinate another 500,000 health workers. To deal with the increase, officials this week announced five additional vaccine distribution sites across the county, starting Jan. 19. In addition, Los Angeles said on Sunday that Dodger Stadium will also be open for vaccinations. The baseball stadium was the largest coronavirus testing site in the country prior to the transition to a vaccine site this week.
“We anticipate that, at a minimum, all sites will be open seven days a week and have the capacity to vaccinate 4,000 to 5,000 people a day,” said LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, referring to administered sites by the county. The sites will be open for at least four weeks.
Currently, 180,174 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have been administered in the county, including 25,840 second doses. As of Wednesday, the county had received 490,995 doses of the vaccine.
Less than a third of the doses that were sent to California were administered across the state.
State and health officials said that counties may undergo implantation at different speeds, depending on the population. In LA County, the launch for the next group – 1B – is scheduled to begin in early February. This group includes people working in education, day care, emergency services, food and agriculture, as well as people aged 75 and over.
Next in line would be those working in critical manufacturing, commercial industrial facilities and transportation, as well as homeless individuals and people aged 65 to 74. Those who are incarcerated are also included at this level, although at least one state prison has already started to receive the vaccine.
These county residents are likely to start receiving the vaccine in March, Ferrer said.
Following them would be individuals in 1C aged between 50 and 64 and workers in water and sewage, defense, energy, chemicals and hazardous materials, communications and IT, financial services and government operations.
Individuals will be required to make an appointment and show verification to receive the vaccine, Ferrer said.