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LA's Already Bad Vaccine Backlog Could Get Worse In March

By Megan Nguyen and Gina Pollack
Published Feb 19, 2021 7:00 AM
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Entrance to the vaccination site in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. City officials hope to vaccinate up to 12,000 people a day. (Chava Sanchez/LAist)
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Vaccine supplies are already limited around Southern California, but they could soon become even more sparse.

That's because a lot more people are about to become eligible.

Starting March 1: L.A. county will open eligibility to more than one million essential workers, including teachers, school staff, child care workers, food and agriculture workers, and law enforcement personnel.

Starting March 15th: The state has directed providers to make shots available to anyone ages 16-64 with a qualifying underlying health condition, including cancer, Down syndrome and pregnancy.

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These changes will further strain supply, said County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer:

"We’re going to have a difficult month probably in March, but I really do think the situation will change in April."

What changes in April? Ferrer said we’re expecting more doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines from the federal government and the approval of a third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, which could happen before the end of this month. Doses for the new vaccine could possibly even ship out in March (fingers crossed).

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