Disneyland in California opened a giant coronavirus vaccination center on Wednesday, about ten months after the pandemic appeared, the world-famous theme park had to close.
The first few hundred patients who were lucky enough to set up online appointments drove to the Anaheim Resort parking lot on Wednesday morning, where people over 65 and health workers are vaccinated in white tents.
“Today, it’s a very happy place on earth for a lot of people to get vaccinated,” said Orange County supervisor Lisa Bartlett, referring to the famous Disney descriptor.
The province near Los Angeles announced that Disneyland was offering its first vaccine “super POD” (point of delivery) late Monday, and received 10,000 registrations within the first two hours on Tuesday.
“Easy – piece of cake, nothing on it. Didn’t even feel like going in,” said Gary Dohman, an 81-year-old lung cancer patient, after receiving his Moderna shot.
“I’ve been caged in a house for ten months, can’t go anywhere. I want to get my second chance and travel a bit.”
The slow deployment of the vaccines in California has been widely criticized, with one of the lowest per capita vaccination rates in the United States.
State officials announced Wednesday that previous stringent admission requirements will be immediately extended to include all 65-year-olds – a move that Orange County, where Disneyland is located, has already begun.
“The deployment of the state vaccine was a bit disappointing,” supervisor Donald Wagner said at a news conference.
Disney, Orange County’s largest employer, and other corporate partners “came together to get the hang of it,” he said.
Officers soon fired more than 7,000 shots a day.
During the summer and fall, when Covid cases were submerged in southern California, Disney and other theme park operators burst into restrictions that did not allow them to reopen, even under strict security protocols, even as other businesses resumed operations. went.
The whole region then returned to ‘stay-at-home orders’ in early December, and most businesses closed again.
California, which was initially praised for dealing with the pandemic, has emerged as a focal point of the virus in recent weeks. The state killed 30,000 people due to Covid-19 on Tuesday, with cases having more than doubled to 2.75 million since early December.
Co-supervisor Doug Chaffee expressed the hope that the vaccination campaign ‘means we can bring back tourism, I hope especially in places like Disneyland’, as well as the reopening of schools and other businesses.
Orange County plans to vaccinate “all residents” by July 4 under its “Operation Independence,” supervisor Andrew Do said.
170,000 doses have been given so far, with a population of more than 3 million.
Mitra Fard, who pushed her newly vaccinated 83-year-old mother back in a wheelchair from the tents, said there was a ‘long drive’ and an extra hour of delay.
“But for the number of people, the number of cars, they do an excellent job. I’m really impressed,” she said.
“We’m ready to go get a big juicy steak.”
amz / caw