Los Angeles has nearly exhausted its supply of Moderna doses.
Californian cities have been stepping up their efforts to vaccine the populace as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the state. Los Angeles in particular has opened up five different mass vaccination sites, one of which at the massive Dodger Stadium, and has administered around 293,000 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in the last week. According to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the city is averaging about 13,000 doses a day. However, it seems the vaccination rush has hit a sudden wall.
Garcetti announced yesterday that all five of Los Angeles’ mass vaccination sites will be temporarily closed on Friday and Saturday, as the city has almost completely exhausted its supply of vaccine doses.
“The problem is, we don’t have enough vaccines,” Garcetti said during a virtual briefing Wednesday evening. “We aren’t receiving enough doses soon enough.”
Despite the city’s ability to vaccinate en masse, they have only received 16,000 more doses of Moderna’s vaccine in the past week, a significant drop from the 90,000 they received the week prior.
“That is unacceptable,” the mayor said. “I want to be clear: Los Angeles needs more doses.”
Los Angeles has distributed approximately 98% of all of the vaccine doses it has received. During a briefing with county partners, Garcetti noted that other Californian cities with notably smaller populations than Los Angeles County have been receiving far more doses than them.
“I don’t want to take away a single dose away from them, but it is only fair that Los Angeles gets a steady supply to meet the moment of our need,” Garcetti said. He added that if Los Angeles’ needs for vaccine doses were properly met, the city could easily vaccinate 5 million people by early July.
For the remainder of the week, only those scheduled to receive second doses of the vaccine will still be receiving them. LA Health Department officials are urging everyone to be patient and understanding as they prioritize those in more dire need of vaccines.
