Gov. Gavin Newsom visited L.A. County's Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, which administered some of the first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to health care workers. Five health care workers were vaccinated there today. Newsom was also joined by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis.
You can read highlights below or watch the full press conference above.
VACCINATIONS IN LA COUNTY
There were 33,150 vaccine doses delivered Monday — there were also 33,278 new COVID-19 cases reported today.
"Today we received as many doses in the entire state of California as there were new cases in the state of California," Newsom said.
The state expects between 2.1 and 2.16 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered by the end of the year, according to Newsom. The state has a total of 2.4 million health care workers that need to be vaccinated.
The average over the past week was 31,000 new cases, with an average of 159 deaths per day. The positivity rate went from 3.5% six weeks ago to 10.6% now.
Newsom said that he plans to get the vaccine himself, but won't be cutting in line.
"I have no problem taking the vaccine — I look forward to taking this vaccine, I'm confident of its safety and its efficacy, but I'm not going to get in the way of any of the critical workers ... that are more deserving," Newsom said.
Newsom said that there is light at the end of the tunnel — but that we're still in the tunnel.
Vaccines were distributed to four sites across the state on Monday, according to Newsom, with 24 more sites getting the vaccine Tuesday and another five on Wednesday.
Newsom said that the state's new vaccination awareness campaign "is about vaccinating all Californians, not just some Californians, not just connected Californians," Newsom said.
Newsom praised Garcetti and Solis for their cooperation with the state during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Garcetti's private advice to Newsom.
Garcetti spoke about having a nurse in his own family, and what this moment with vaccinations beginning means. He introduced nurse Kim Taylor, who received her first dose of the vaccine today.
"We are marching through the horror of this moment — there is no way around that," Garcetti said. "But today we're also marching through the hope of this moment."
"Hope is here. Relief is here. And the vaccine is here," Solis said. "We can now see an end point to this pandemic."
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