Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced the next phase of the City's vaccination program, transitioning from the mass vaccination model to a mobile-first strategy designed to bring vaccines directly and conveniently to L.A.'s hardest-hit communities. The City's vaccination program is expected to transition entirely to mobile clinics by August 1.
"Vaccines are the path to ending this pandemic, and we've worked day and night to get shots into Angelenos' arms at our mass vaccination sites, our mobile clinics, and neighborhoods across our city," said Mayor Garcetti. "We will always meet and exceed the demand. With a growing number of residents getting inoculated, we are putting our resources where they will do the most good — delivering doses directly to undervaccinated communities, engaging and educating vulnerable populations, and eliminating barriers to this life-saving vaccine."
Equity and access are central pillars of the City's vaccination campaign. To that end, the Mayor launched the Mobile Outreach for Vaccine Equity (MOVE) program early in this effort, and he recently announced extended hours at some City sites and appointment-free options across Los Angeles.
Now, the City will expand the number of mobile units and deploy more agile teams based on community assessments that determine areas with high vulnerability and low vaccination rates. Mobile units will also focus on high traffic locations and special events to meet communities where they are and make it even easier to get vaccinated. This new phase focuses on three primary components:
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Expanding the mobile program with more agile teams
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A partnership with Toyota will allow the City to add new van-based mobile vaccination teams that will help reach more neighborhoods and can be deployed to high traffic locations and special events.
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Amplifying strategic deployment
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Building on the existing MOVE model, the Mayor's Office and the Los Angeles Fire Department will continue to operate in areas with high vulnerability and low vaccine rates, while developing weekly strategic deployment plans that focus on high traffic locations and special events, in collaboration with community groups.
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Expanding access and incentives
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Mobile clinics will offer more evening and weekend vaccination options, in convenient locations, while working with local partners to provide vaccination incentives.
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As of today, nearly 4 million Angelenos are fully vaccinated across L.A. County, and nearly 9 million have received at least their first dose. However, areas with larger communities of color confront some of the city's lowest vaccination rates, hovering around 40%. This disparity points to the need for a tailored approach, alongside community partners, to canvass and join local markets and events, geared toward reaching residents directly in their neighborhoods.
From the start of the City's vaccination program, Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) has provided vital support, staffing, personnel, and volunteers for our mass sites. With this transition, the City and CORE are working together closely to focus resources at mobile clinics.
"None of this life-saving vaccination work would have been possible without the commitment of our dedicated staff and volunteers," said CORE CEO Ann Lee. "CORE remains committed to acting quickly and evolving with the ever-changing state of the pandemic to best serve the community. CORE will continue to work closely with L.A. City, LAFD, and our staff to reallocate resources according to the needs of the community, and we will continue to keep our team notified of any changes related to the COVID-19 relief program."
Scaling down the mass vaccination sites will happen gradually, and these centers will remain open to the public over the next two months. On June 19, the mass vaccination site at Pierce College will close permanently, followed by Los Angeles Southwest College on June 26.
By August 1, the City will be operating a fully mobile vaccination program with at least 14 mobile teams spread out across Los Angeles. The first group of new mobile teams will head out on June 7, with four more added a week later.
Since launching a COVID-19 vaccination program in December, the City's vaccination program, led by the Los Angeles Fire Department, and in partnership with CORE, Carbon Health, Curative, the USC School of Pharmacy, and the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles, has administered over 1.3 million vaccines across the City, of which 68% have gone to people of color. Its mobile program, MOVE, has administered over 112,000 doses at small temporary clinics that are set up in trusted community sites; to date, over 90% have been administered to people of color. Over the past two weeks, more than 80% of first doses at MOVE sites have been delivered to the areas of Los Angeles hardest hit by COVID-19 and/or with the lowest social determinants of health. For more information, please visit Coronavirus.LACity.org/GetVaccinated.
