In the first major expansion of the vaccination list, Los Angeles County announced Monday that all employees in the health care industry can now receive vaccinations, including staff at emergency and primary care clinics, research laboratories, pharmacies and dentist offices.
The announcement follows last week’s state leadership and opens the group’s top priority fitness list. The pool includes health workers in hospitals and nursing homes who deal directly with infected or high-risk patients. Officials have expanded the list to speed up the explosion of the vaccine and ensure that the remaining vaccine doses are not wasted.
By the end of the month, the province plans to vaccinate 500,000 more health workers. To deal with the boom, officials announced this week that five additional vaccine distribution centers will begin across the province, starting on January 19th. In addition, Los Angeles said Sunday that Dodger Stadium will also be open for vaccinations. The baseball venue was the largest coronavirus test site in the country before switching to a vaccine this week.
“We expect each site to be open at least seven days a week and to vaccinate 4,000 to 5,000 people each day,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health in LA County, referring to the provinces. The sites will be open for at least four weeks.
Currently, 180,174 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have been administered in the country, including 25,840 seconds. As of Wednesday, the country has received 490,995 doses.
Less than a third of the doses sent to California were administered throughout the state.
Health and government officials said provinces could move through the deployment at different speeds, depending on the population. In LA County, the rollout to the next group – 1B – is expected to begin in early February. The group includes individuals working in education, childcare, emergency services, food and agriculture, as well as 75-year-olds.
Next in line are those working in critical manufacturing, industrial commercial facilities and transportation, as well as the homeless and people aged 65 to 74 years. Those who are incarcerated are also included in this level, although at least one state prison has already started receiving the vaccine.
The country’s residents are likely to start receiving the vaccine in March, Ferrer said.
This is followed by individuals in 1C who are 50 to 64 years old and work in water and wastewater, defense, energy, chemical and hazardous materials, communications and IT, financial services and government operations.
Individuals are expected to set up an appointment and show verification to receive the vaccine, Ferrer said.