Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Wednesday that he expects the coronavirus vaccine to be available to anyone in the county in early summer.
Currently eligible to receive the vaccine are residents over 65, residents of nursing homes, health professionals and essentials and some school staff. Residents with certain underlying conditions will be eligible to receive the vaccine starting next week.
And as long as the scarcity remains, Garcetti said that Angelenos must “prepare for a moment when we get out of this phase of not having enough vaccines. It is coming and soon”.
He said he thinks eligibility requirements “would fall quickly.”
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“In other words, in the coming weeks, probably no more than two months from now, anyone who wants a vaccine can get it,” he said during a coronavirus briefing.
“In the coming weeks, probably no more than two months from now, everyone who wants a vaccine can get it.”
Even so, the mayor asked for “patience” to return to normal. “The transition back to normal life is going to take some time,” he warned. “It takes the same kind of patience that you’ve shown all year. But it’s worth it.”
LA County remains in the most restrictive “purple layer” in California, but if the minuscule numbers remain, it is expected to fall into the less severe “red layer” next Wednesday, which will allow restaurants, gyms and cinemas reopen with limited capacity under state rules.
He noted that Alaska became the first state this week to offer the vaccine to anyone over the age of 16.
“This is our goal and it is coming soon. We will come back stronger,” he said.
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Garcetti praised the interim agreement between the LA school district and the teachers’ union to begin reopening schools next month and praised Congress for approving the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, which will give checks from $ 1,400 for most people who earn less than $ 75,000.
The new daily totals of cases in the county, averaging less than 700, are at their lowest point since last April, according to KTLA-TV.
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The county received its highest dose of vaccines this week, but a shortage is expected due to the low supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the station reported.