- A mass vaccination site at Dodger Stadium closed briefly on Saturday after the protesters arrived.
- The protesters included people from anti-vaccine and right-wing groups.
- People in line for vaccines were already waiting hours before the interruption.
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A mass vaccination site COVID-19 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles temporarily closed on Saturday after protesters gathered near the entrance.
The protesters included people from anti-vaccine and far-right groups, according to the Los Angeles Times. A reporter from Beverly Hills Courier said there were about 40 protesters. No incidents of violence were reported.
Authorities told the Times that the Los Angeles Fire Department closed the gate as a precaution at around 2 pm, but was reopened about an hour later.
The Los Angeles Police Department he said that all scheduled vaccinations would take place.
In photos and videos shared on Twitter, protesters carried signs which said: “COVID = SCAM”, “I only like muzzles in the room” and “Tell Bill Gates to get vaccinated”.
Bill Gates says it’s been vaccinated.
Read More: Planned Parenthood offers Biden help in the campaign against the misinformation of the coronavirus vaccine: ‘It’s all in the hands’.
—Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) January 30, 2021
People in a long line of cars waiting to receive the vaccine were waiting hours before the outage, the Times reported. Protesters could also be seen on videos trying to distribute flyers to people in line and speaking in a megaphone about the vaccine.
Although some Americans expressed concern about the vaccines, the two coronavirus vaccines authorized for use in the United States did not raise any major safety concerns during large clinical trials conducted with several groups of volunteers. Experts said anti-vaccination groups could delay the end of the pandemic.
Dodger Stadium has served as a test site for COVID-19 since May and has recently been transformed into the city’s first mass vaccination center. It is one of the largest mass vaccination sites in the USA and will be able to vaccinate about 12,000 people a day.