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Dodger Stadium To Stop COVID-19 Tests And Become A Mass Vaccination Site
An aerial view shows a long line of cars July 15, 2020 at a COVID-19 testing site at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, California. (Robyn Beck/ Getty Images)
Dodger Stadium will begin the transition from coronavirus tests to vaccinations this week. City officials say when the site is up and running, staff will vaccinate up to 12,000 people a day.
We’re still in the first phase of the state’s vaccination plan, so for now appointments are open to health workers only.
First in line (phase 1A of the state’s vaccination plan) have been those working most closely with coronavirus patients in hospitals, along with EMTs and paramedics. Today the county said all health care workers can get immunized, from dentists to lab technicians.
“Close to 800,000 health care workers in L.A. County are within phase 1A,” said L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
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The county plans to open five more large vaccination sites in the coming weeks, she said. “We recognize that we really need to accelerate our pace of being able to get everyone in phase 1A vaccinated by the end of January.”
Health officials say they'll try to add COVID-19 tests to other sites to make up for what’s being lost at Dodger Stadium and a Veterans Administration site that’s closing down.
Meanwhile, the post-Christmas surge continues. Ferrer said on average, an Angeleno is now dying of the virus every eight minutes.
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