The City of Los Angeles has opened its second-largest vaccination center at Pierce College.
The center, located in Parking Lot 7 off Victory Boulevard, will actually offer both COVID testing and vaccinations in partnership with the Los Angeles Fire Department and Carbon Health.
“We have people from different organizations ramping up their ability to vaccinate the public,” LAFD’s David Ortiz told Pierce’s Roundup newspaper. “It’s a big, combined effort with different people managing their sites separately, but we all get the vaccines from the same source.”
No vaccinations will be given without an appointment; however, you can get a COVID test without an appointment as the site accepts drive-ups and walk ins.
The Pierce site opened this past Tuesday, after the delay in vaccine shipments due to the weather on the east coast. Currently doses are limited, but there were appointments available as of Tuesday afternoon. Eventually this site will be able to process more than 3,000 appointments per day as vaccine dosage supplies increase.
Ortiz added, “A lot of people have the tendency to go to Dodger Stadium because that’s the most well known site. We want to bring awareness that these vaccination sites are available in most areas of Los Angeles.” Pierce is the city’s sixth permanent vaccination super site.
Audry Hensley, one of the site’s staff, said that this is a smaller site than Dodger Stadium, telling the Roundup that, “The fire department has kept our numbers low so we could work out some of the kinks in the system. We have more little segments here. As long as the vaccine supply keeps coming, we’ll be able to keep vaccinating people.”
Currently, healthcare workers and those over 65 are eligible for vaccinations. As of March 1, teachers and grocery workers will also be eligible. Forty percent of the vaccine designated for school staff in L.A. County will be available to LAUSD in hopes of reopening schools sooner.
If you have not yet received your first or second vaccination, do not have an appointment already and are in an eligible group, you can book your appointment at carbonhealth.com.
There have been many people frustrated at not being able to book appointments because slots fill up so quickly. The best advice from the city is to keep trying the site at all times of the day, as appointments open up as more doses become available.
