COVID Vaccination Super Site Opens At Dodger Stadium Friday

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – One of the biggest vaccination super sites in the nation opened at Dodger Stadium Friday.

The site is expected to vaccinate 4,000 people today.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti has said that when the site becomes fully operational, it will be capable of vaccinating up to 12,000 people daily. He told CBSLA Friday that by the end of next week, it could be not just the largest vaccination site in the nation, but in the world.

Only healthcare workers with appointments will receive vaccinations, L.A. Fire Department spokesperson David Ortiz told CBSLA Friday.

Since May, Dodger Stadium had been serving as the nation's largest COVID-19 testing site. However, earlier this week the city halted testing and transitioned the site entirely to administering coronavirus vaccinations.

RELATED: Differences In State, LA County Guidelines Causing COVID-19 Vaccine Confusion

There is some confusion regarding who can get vaccinated in L.A. County. Although, California announced Wednesday that anyone aged 65 and older is eligible for the vaccine, L.A. County public health officials have said that the county is still only vaccinating healthcare workers because it does not yet have enough doses to expand to other demographics. There are an estimated 500,000 healthcare workers that still need to be vaccinated, L.A. County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said earlier this week.

L.A. County is currently in Phase 1A of vaccine distribution, which includes all healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes. It hopes to move to Phase 1B soon, which will include those over age 65, as well as teachers, food and agriculture workers and emergency services workers.

Dodger Stadium is one of several vaccination supersites in the region. Disneyland began serving as a vaccination supersite on Wednesday, and a vaccination site is also opening at the Long Beach Convention Center next week. Petco Park, Knott's Berry Farm and Soka University are expected to open vaccination sites soon as well.

L.A. County plans to open five additional mass-vaccination centers next week.

Closing Dodger Stadium as a testing site decreased the city's testing capacity from more than 40,000 to about 27,000 tests per day, according to Garcetti, but he said testing appointments remain available to those who want them. He noted that the city has been seeing a drop in testing demand every day. He also said the city is adding more mobile testing and looking into providing hybrid sites that offer both tests and vaccines.

Garcetti called the challenge of getting every American the required two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine "the largest logistical undertaking that I've ever seen in my lifetime as an American."

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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