Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said on Wednesday that of the 73 COVID test samples that were examined closely last week, more than half were identified as “variants of concern” – 34% of them being a California variant and 29 % a variant found for the first time in the UK.
“This means that 63% of the variant sequences last week are what we call ‘worrying variants’ because they are likely to be more transmissible and potentially more serious diseases,” she said.
Concern about variants has grown because they are more easily passed from person to person, and at least one study has suggested that the California variant could be a little more resistant to current vaccines.
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Ferrer emphasized that the samples tested last week were not chosen from a “scientifically randomly selected sample”, so “we have to interpret the results very carefully”.
Concern about the variants arises when the county reports that it is not getting enough vaccines and is prioritizing second doses again. Ferrer said the county received about 280,000 doses this week.
“We are back to making only second doses because we simply did not receive enough vaccine to honor all second dose allocations, continue our commitment to our federally qualified health centers and community partners in hard-hit communities and the power to open in our high-profile settings. capacity for first dose consultations, “said Ferrer.
“We have more than 600,000 schedules available this week. More than half of them are not open just because we don’t have doses, ”she said.
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Meanwhile, local authorities continue to urge residents qualified for a vaccine to be inoculated.
Magic Johnson, Arsenio Hall and Danny Trejo were at USC to receive one of the camera-approved COVID-19 vaccines. LA Fire Chief, Ralph Terrazas, administered the injections in Johnson, Hall and Trejo at a city-run site on the USC University Park campus to specifically encourage people in southern LA to get the vaccine.
“I am very happy to be here with Danny and my 40 year old friend Arsenio Hall to get this vaccination because it is very important. I’ve been doing everything right, wearing my mask, cleaning my hands all the time. I have done a COVID-19 test it looks like every two weeks, ” said Johnson, who received the Pfizer vaccine.
Johnson, Trejo and Hall, nicknamed “New LA Dream Team” by Mayor Eric Garcetti, joined county supervisor Holly Mitchell, city councilman Curren Price and Ferrer to urge the southern LA community to get vaccinated.
“Decades of systemic racism and unequal distribution of the very resources that support good health have left these communities especially vulnerable to the pandemic,” said Ferrer. “To face the glaring injustice that this pandemic has revealed, the launch of the vaccine must focus on equity issues and considerations to reduce barriers to vaccination.”
The City News Service contributed to this service.
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