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Los Angeles County residents who are 65 years old and older can now register for COVID-19 vaccination appointments.

Residents in this high-priority age group should visit VaccinateLACounty.com to schedule their appointments, which will begin Wednesday, January 20th. Residents who don’t have computer access may call (833) 540-0473 between 8 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. for assistance with reservations.

The vaccine supply is still extremely limited, and Los Angeles County continues to urge patience as we work urgently with our federal and state partners to expand capacity and supply in the weeks ahead.

To ensure that people at higher risk of transmission and illness are vaccinated first, Los Angeles County has established a tier system. In addition to those 65+, priority for current vaccination is going to frontline health care workers and residents and staff at skilled nursing and long-term care facilities.

This strategy works to protect our entire community by ensuring that our most vulnerable and most critical healthcare workers do not get sick.

The opening of appointment registration for a new tier today comes as the County opens five large capacity vaccination sites across the County.

The five established sites, which were chosen for their regional accessibility and their ability to handle large capacities of people, are:

• Pomona Fairplex, 1101 W McKinley Ave., Pomona, CA 91768
• The Forum, 3900 W Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90305
• California State University, Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, CA 91330
• L.A. County Office of Education, 12830 Columbia Way, Downey, CA 90242
• Six Flags Magic Mountain, 26101 Magic Mountain Pkwy., Valencia, CA 91355

These large-scale vaccination sites started operating Tuesday, January 19, and will be able to vaccinate approximately 4,000 people per day at each site, significantly increasing the number of people vaccinated. The large-scale vaccination sites will aim to vaccinate 500,000 Los Angeles County residents in a month.

Vaccinations are free, and available to all, regardless of immigration status or insurance coverage. For those who have insurance, coverage information may be requested as part of the appointment scheduling process.

In addition to the L.A. County operated sites, residents have other options for making an appointment for a vaccine. Currently, more than 75 pharmacies have registered to provide vaccinations, and we will continue to add more as more vaccines are available. Vaccine allocations are also going to large healthcare provider organizations like Kaiser Permanente and Providence Health and Services. In addition, residents may call their healthcare provider, as well, who may direct them to a preferred location for the vaccine.

For up-to-date information on LA County’s vaccine program, visit VaccinateLACounty.com.

Los Angeles County is expanding its capacity for large-scale COVID-19 vaccine distributions by opening five large-scale vaccination sites across the County.

The five established sites, which were prudently chosen for their regional accessibility and their ability to handle large capacities of people, are:

• Pomona Fairplex, 1101 W McKinley Ave, Pomona, CA 91768
• The Forum, 3900 W Manchester Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90305
• California State University, Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff St, Northridge, CA 91330
• L.A. County Office of Education, 12830 Columbia Way, Downey, CA 90242
• Six Flags Magic Mountain, 26101 Magic Mountain Pkwy, Valencia, CA 91355

These large-scale vaccination sites will come online on Tuesday, January 19, and will be able to vaccinate approximately 4,000 people per day at each site, significantly increasing the number of frontline healthcare workers vaccinated. Los Angeles County aims to complete 500,000 additional vaccinations among healthcare workers by the end of January. All vaccinations are administered free of charge.

Only priority groups identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with additional guidance provided by the state, are receiving the vaccine;  currently, only  frontline healthcare workers, residents and staff in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and other long-term care facilities are eligible for vaccination.

Eligible healthcare workers must have verification documents, which include a healthcare worker badge with a photo, or a professional license and a photo identification (ID), or a signed letter from an employer and a photo ID, or a payment stub from a healthcare provider with a name and a photo ID. Residents who are not in the eligible categories should not attempt to register for a vaccine appointment, at this time. Doing so will take an appointment slot away from the frontline healthcare workers.

“Los Angeles County is setting up these sites throughout the County to vaccinate our most vulnerable and at-risk residents to protect them from this deadly virus,” said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda L. Solis, Supervisor to the First District. “Equity is our North Star in the distribution of the vaccine, and I thank long-term stakeholders such as the Pomona Fairplex for stepping up and working with the County to make getting a vaccine as easy, convenient and as safe as possible in hard-hit communities.”

“Getting the vaccine to every resident is our top priority in the fight to end this pandemic,” said Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell. “I’m glad to see The Forum— which serves our communities in so many ways— expand from testing to offering vaccine distribution. This will be a vital resource for the Second Supervisorial District as we remain vigilant about practicing safety guidelines and waiting our turn to ensure our essential workers and most vulnerable residents are vaccinated.”

“My thanks to Cal State Northridge for working with the County to make its campus available to administer urgently needed vaccines,” said Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. “The CSUN site, along with other Mega Points of Distribution (MPOD) sites, will dramatically increase the number of County residents who can be vaccinated each day. This is a dynamic situation, so please continue to pay close attention to the news coming from the County about our vaccination plans, so you know how to get one as soon as you are eligible. Together, we can end this terrible pandemic which is robbing us of beloved parents, grandparents, friends and neighbors each day.”

“In LA County we have to vaccinate 10 million people, twice,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “These large-scale vaccination sites are going to help us get there by massively increasing our capacity to vaccinate people quickly and efficiently.”

“The County’s efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic rely on using all of the tools that we have available,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “As science and health experts continue to address this pandemic, these vaccines will help reduce the spread of the disease in Los Angeles County. These MPOD sites will help support the County’s efforts to protect our residents and restore the fabric of our communities.”

“As we continue to vaccinate our frontline healthcare workers, these vaccination sites will have the capability to increase the number we are vaccinating daily many times over,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “By vaccinating those at the highest risk as soon as possible, we have an opportunity to stabilize our healthcare system, prevent people from being hospitalized from COVID-19, and most importantly, save lives.”

The County has also launched a new “Know Your Tier” public information campaign that highlights the County’s new vaccination website, VaccinateLACounty.com, and explains how residents can find out when they will be eligible to be vaccinated.

The large-scale vaccinations sites are in addition to more than 75 vaccination locations that have been established to facilitate the administration of doses to individuals within Phase 1A, tiers 2 and 3. To date, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has opened more than 20 designated vaccination centers for frontline healthcare workers and has made arrangements with dozens of pharmacies to facilitate vaccinations for frontline healthcare workers within Phase 1A. LA County began vaccinating frontline healthcare workers in December. This week, an estimated 80,000 vaccine doses will be administered at the community vaccination sites. For up-to-date information on LA County’s vaccine program, visit VaccinateLACounty.com.

Click below the links below to download and share multilingual graphics in the “Know Your Tier” campaign. Additional materials will be available in the days ahead.

English | Spanish | Chinese | Korean | Armenian

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health does not condone wasting of any precious vaccine doses and has not and is not directing providers to throw away unused doses. In fact, we have moved swiftly to set up vaccine clinics on quick turnaround whenever we have learned of potential vaccine expirations.

Although the priority now is to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers and residents in long-term health facilities, Los Angeles County has allowed for exceptions in the vaccination plan to be made in order to prevent any vaccine wastage, as is detailed on page 8 of the department’s guidance.

The Department of Public Health will investigate any reports of vaccine waste or misuse. Anyone with information about waste or misuse should email covidvax@ph.lacounty.gov.

Los Angeles County is committed to vaccinating every resident who wants to be protected from this deadly virus and is working with hundreds of partners to ramp up operations for mass vaccination distribution to eligible groups of residents.

For up-to-date information, visit VaccinateLACounty.com

Below is a statement from the County Medical Examiner-Coroner Dr. Jonathan Lucas regarding pre-planning efforts in anticipation of surge storage requirements during COVID-19.

“In preparation for the pandemic, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner (DMEC) installed refrigerated storage units in the beginning of April 2020. The units have remained largely unused until recently.

DMEC has sufficient storage for current needs; however, the department is expanding capacity to meet potential future demands.

Although DMEC has already secured most of the additional storage and is currently organizing the secondary location, we are very grateful to Cal OES for supplementing our resources with additional refrigerated trailers and providing rack systems. While there has been an increase in bodies, DMEC feels confident in managing the effects of the pandemic with the aid of our partners at Cal OES.”

Los Angeles County today announced the launch of a partnership with the City of Los Angeles and public health service startup Curative to deliver and administer the COVID-19 Moderna vaccines to staff and residents of Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) in Los Angeles County. This partnership is the first of additional partnerships that the County is establishing to facilitate the vaccine rollout to SNFs. Although the majority of SNFs in Los Angeles County indicated that they were capable of receiving and administering vaccines to their staff and residents, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in partnership with the City and Curative have activated mobile teams to support SNFs with vaccination assistance.

The first Moderna vaccines were delivered to 59 nursing home facilities across the Los Angeles already. Additional SNFs indicating that the need assistance with vaccination have been assigned to Curative, the County, or City staff for assistance. This public-private partnership will ensure that approximately 69,000 vaccines will be deployed to staff and residents in 339 SNFs by the end of the calendar year. This vaccine program is critical, as nursing facilities account for only 5% of the state’s COVID-19 cases, but 35% of the deaths.

This public-private partnership is just one part of the County’s COVID-19 vaccination strategy, and builds on relationships and service provision models that have delivered millions of Los Angeles County residents free COVID-19 testing at numerous locations across the County.

Working closely with the City of L.A. and Curative, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will lead a coordinated vaccine deployment effort to all skilled nursing facilities. Given the complex vaccination process, many SNFs will now be able to more efficiently vaccinate staff and residents as a result of this partnership, which will include additional staff who support vaccine education, registration, and delivery. This collaboration brings public health expertise, local leadership, and the private sector together to build capacity in the SNFs to continue to do this, and to safely speed up the vaccination process for some of the County’s most vulnerable residents and care professionals.

”Skilled Nursing Facilities have been hit hard by COVID-19, accounting for close to 3,000 deaths,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “The partnership with Curative and the City of Los Angeles will allow us to vaccinate SNF residents and staff quicker and with the flexibility needed to reach the 339 skilled nursing facilities in Los Angeles County.”

“Our City’s number one responsibility is to preserve the health and safety of our residents — especially the most vulnerable — and with the arrival of these vaccines, our first priority must be protecting the folks hardest hit by this pandemic, from healthcare workers to the staff and residents of skilled nursing facilities,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “True progress is made through partnerships, and the City is proud to work alongside the County, Curative, CORE and LAFD to first bring free testing to our communities and now to support the effort to vaccinate Angelenos.”

“Los Angeles has been one of the hardest hit areas during the pandemic, and as the place where Curative was originally founded, it’s an honor to lead vaccination delivery in the community. This is a significant moment in history, and we are ready to bring these life-saving vaccines to the people who need them most,” said Isaac Turner, CIO and co-founder of Curative. “Curative has disrupted the traditional healthcare delivery system by rapidly scaling COVID-19 testing at thousands of sites across the country in a matter of months and administering the flu vaccine – now, we are eager to put our proven model to work for the COVID-19 vaccine. As we enter this new phase of the pandemic, we’re building on everything we learned over the last year at Curative and we look forward to making healthcare more accessible to all: both now and in the future as we evolve as a company.”

By working with Curative and the City, Los Angeles County will create the operational flexibility to better address SNFs’ needs. The County will also speed up the process of scaling vaccinations so that Los Angeles can build immunity in residents more quickly. Curative will deploy a full suite of vaccine services to Skilled Nursing Facilities in L.A. County needing a high level of support, including registration, logistics, and administration. Similarly, the City of Los Angeles, led by the Mayor’s Office and the Los Angeles Fire Department, will provide world-renowned logistics support, registration, and vaccine administration support to Skilled Nursing Facilities within the City of Los Angeles. Expert teams from Public Health are providing logistics and administration support across the county.

Click HERE for b-roll and photos of the vaccinations

L.A. County Health Services today embarked on a mass COVID-19 vaccination effort that will result in 6,000 vaccinations by Christmas and 10,000 total vaccinations by Dec. 31 for its frontline healthcare workers. The vaccinations are initially taking place at three of the four County hospitals: LAC+USC Medical Center, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Since the first vaccination allocation is limited, LA County Health Services is following CDC and state guidance in identifying and vaccinating those workforce members who are in the highest risk categories and working in our highest intensity areas, such as the ICU and Emergency Room. The mass vaccination effort is occurring while LA County Health Services manages the largest surge of COVID-19 patients seen during this pandemic. Within the Health Services department, the surge has led to limited ICU capacity, nurse redeployment, overflow triage and treatment areas, ambulance diversion and long wait times in the emergency rooms.

As the County’s healthcare safety net, LA Health Services acute care hospitals have been highly impacted by the current COVID-19 surge as they primarily serve low-income and communities of color that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. While the vaccinations provide a glimmer of hope, LA County Health Services encourages the public to continue with its vigilance during these next few weeks and to stay at home as much as possible.

“After nine months of working to save our families, friends, and neighbors, healthcare workers who are getting vaccinated today, and soon thousands of other healthcare workers, will now have extra protection and peace of mind so they can continue doing what they do best: keeping Los Angeles County safe and healthy,” said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda L. Solis, and Supervisor to the First District. “Hope is here, but we still have much work to do as the COVID-19 crisis is the worst it has been. Just as these healthcare workers are committing to our communities by getting vaccinated, we must commit to them and do what is in our control to stop this virus,” said Hilda Solis, Chair, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and Supervisor to the First District.

Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of LA County Health Services, thanked the healthcare workforce, including nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists and others who have been on the frontlines since March. “They have seen firsthand how devastating this pandemic has been and continues to be, and today we are battling an unprecedented surge in LA County that threatens to overwhelm our public hospitals and undermine our ability to care for patients,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, Director, LA County Health Services. “But finally, there is hope.”

Dr. Ghaly also said LA County’s vaccination effort was unique for its scale – 10,000 workers by New Year’s Eve. “We are grateful we could mobilize and vaccinate so many of our healthcare workers,” she said. “We can’t respond to the rapidly growing need or overcome the resounding challenges if our workforce doesn’t stay healthy.”

“Receiving the COVID-19 vaccination is a huge step forward,” said Dr. Tamara Chambers, Chief of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at LAC+USC Medical Center who intubates COVID-19 patients in the ICU and was among the first cohort of healthcare workers to be vaccinated today. “It's a breath of fresh air. We now have another layer of protection that allows us to care for those critically afflicted by the Novel Coronavirus. We get the vaccine for ourselves and for our communities. We want everyone to be protected so we can end this pandemic.”

B-ROLL AND PHOTOS:

Click the links below to access b-roll and photos from today’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic at LAC+USC Medical Center. The b-roll and photos were taken at the COVID-19 vaccination clinic this morning for workers at LAC+USC Medical Center. Credit for footage and photos should be given to County of Los Angeles.

COVID-19 Vaccinations at LAC+USC Medical Center:

• Video
• Photos

COVID-19 Vaccine Freezers:

• Video
• Photos

About Los Angeles County Health Services

The Los Angeles County Health Services (DHS) is the second largest municipal health system in the nation. Through its integrated system of 27 health centers and four hospitals - and expanded network of community partner clinics – DHS annually provides direct care for over 600,000 unique patients, employs over 23,000 staff, and has an annual budget of over $6 billion. For additional information regarding DHS, please visit www.dhs.lacounty.gov.