Angelenos Vie For COVID-19 Vaccines
Los Angeles is facing a new battle in the ongoing war against the deadly coronavirus — a rush to vaccinate residents.
Los Angeles is facing a new battle in the ongoing war against the deadly coronavirus — a rush to vaccinate residents. As L.A. County begins rolling back pandemic protocols, millions of Angelenos are still eagerly awaiting their turn in line to get vaccinated. Some residents have started volunteering at vaccination sites in hopes that they will get their shot earlier than expected.
Dodger Stadium COVID-19 vaccination site in Los Angeles, California in on Monday, March 15,2021. The stadium is one of the largest vaccination sites in the country but was closed temporarily due to short supply of vaccine doses. Millions more people are eligible to receive the vaccine people with qualifying pre-existing conditions can now make appointments to get inoculated. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)
Santa Monica College (SMC) architecture major Lisa Jackson jumped at the chance of participating in California’s My Turn — Volunteer program. “I am old enough to remember when polio was a thing. I'm old enough to remember schools closing because of measles,” said the longtime Venice resident.
“When I was in first grade, one of the little girls in my class lost her two-year-old sister [to measles]….I don't necessarily trust authority. But I do trust virologists. I do trust peer-reviewed science,” said Jackson.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom put out a statement March 5 regarding the new statewide volunteer recruitment campaign, which read in part, “Volunteers can play an especially important role in supporting our vaccination efforts by serving at a local vaccination site. I encourage all Californians to join the My Turn – Volunteer effort in service to their community and together we can reach the light at the end of the tunnel.”
The program is meant to “connect vaccination sites and clinics to volunteers in their area to help accelerate the administration of vaccines,” according to its website. Both medical and nonmedical volunteers are needed for tasks ranging from registration and language support to sanitizing surfaces and directing traffic.
Jackson tried numerous times to volunteer for the program, only to repeatedly find that no shifts were available at vaccination sites in her area. “I think as the number of people who can be vaccinated is expanded, it's gonna get harder. Just because of the sheer numbers,” said Jackson, who subsequently became vaccine eligible when the county broadened the criteria earlier this week. “I don't think L.A. County has done a particularly bad job [in its vaccination efforts], I think it's just a really big job.”
Approximitely 10% of the county’s 10 million residents have been fully vaccinated, according to data put out by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the Pasadena Public Health Department, and the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services. That number mirrors the 12% of individuals nationwide that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says have been fully vaccinated roughly one year into the pandemic. President Joe Biden announced on March 11 that he will order states to offer COVID-19 vaccines to all adults by May 1, with the hope that Americans will be able to safely gather by July 4.
Vehicles wait in line next to the Crenshaw Christian Center “Faithdome” next to the Los Angeles Fire Department Crenshaw drive-through clinic on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021, in Los Angeles, Calif. Efforts to vaccinate Americans against the deadly virus, which has killed roughly half a million Americans since last February, have only intensified as more transmissible virus variants have emerged across the country. (Michael Goldsmith |The Corsair)
Vaccination rates across the country have more than doubled over the past two months, from roughly one million shots given per day in January to almost 2.5 million shots a day over the past week, according to data from the CDC. Despite the massive increase, herd immunity is still projected to be months away at the earliest, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading epidemiologist and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Los Angeles County announced earlier this week that it has moved into Phase 1b of its vaccination plan. Eligible individuals now include healthcare workers; staff and residents at skilled nursing and long-term care facilities; teachers and childcare workers; individuals who work in emergency services, custodial services, transportation, food and agriculture. All residents ages 65 years and older are also eligible, along with those 16 years and over with underlying health conditions.
Inadequate vaccine supply has forced mass vaccination sites, like the one at Dodger Stadium, which can administer upwards of 10,000 doses a day, to periodically shut down. The strain on local vaccination centers is likely to increase as more people become eligible to receive their shots.
SMC’s recent announcement that students and staff can return to in-person learning this fall further highlights the hopeful uncertainty of the coming months, as Americans struggle to get back to pre-pandemic normalcy.
