Long Beach Offering Free Aquarium Tickets In Effort To Encourage Vaccinations
LONG BEACH (CBSLA) — Long Beach is offering two free tickets to the Aquarium of the Pacific to anyone receiving their first COVID-19 vaccine, city officials said Tuesday.
The tickets will be offered through Saturday to people who get their first dose of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or their one and only dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
"While we have made tremendous strides in vaccinating 60% of eligible Long Beach residents and 96% of our seniors, we know that vaccine hesitancy for some is real," Mayor Robert Garcia said. "We are going to do everything we can to encourage folks to get vaccinated, and that includes incentives."
Normally, the Aquarium's adult general admission tickets cost $36.95.
The tickets will be provided at the following city-run vaccination sites:
- Long Beach Convention Center;
- mobile clinics at Admiral Kidd, MacArthur and Houghton Parks;
- mobile vehicles for homebound individuals and people in hard-hit neighborhoods; and
- mobile vaccination at local schools.
"Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has slowed throughout the state of California and the U.S. in recent weeks, including in Long Beach," said Kelly Colopy, director of the city's Health and Human Services Department.
"While Long Beach continues to be a leading force in the vaccination rollout, having vaccinated well over 300,000 people throughout the city, we are committed to finding innovative solutions to increase the number of people getting vaccinated."
As of Monday, the city, which has its own health department, had reported 53,107 cases of COVID-19 and 932 deaths since the pandemic began.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)