Dodger Stadium and 4 other COVID vaccine sites in L.A. to close temporarily, Garcetti says

Los Angeles health officials, facing a shortfall of COVID-19 vaccines, will close five city-run inoculation sites for at least two days beginning Friday, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday.

Having exhausted its supply of first doses of the Moderna vaccine, the city will temporarily close its drive-through and walk-up vaccination centers, including the largest site at Dodger Stadium, Garcetti said. The centers will remain closed at least through Saturday.

The mayor described the city’s vaccine supply as uneven and unpredictable: This week the city received 16,000 doses, only about 3,000 more than city officials have on average administered per day across the five inoculation sites, Garcetti said. By comparison, the city secured 90,000 doses last week and 29,000 the week before, he said.

Anyone who has received a first dose of the Moderna vaccine will receive a second dose, Garcetti said. The city has administered 293,252 vaccines to date, using 98% of the doses it has received, he said.

“It is only fair that Los Angeles receives a steady supply to meet this moment,� he said.

Despite closing its drive-through and walk-up centers, the city will keep open mobile vaccination clinics that have been dispatched to areas of South Los Angeles whose residents have been infected and killed by the virus at disproportionate rates, the mayor said.

Garcetti said he hopes to reopen the drive-through centers next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Coronavirus cases have in recent weeks begun to level off in Los Angeles County. The county recorded 3,434 new cases and 141 deaths on Wednesday, the mayor said. About 3,700 people were hospitalized countywide Wednesday with COVID-19, 62 of them in intensive care units.

“All data points are trending in the right direction,� Garcetti said.