L.A. County Taking Appointments at Large COVID-19 Vaccination Sites

Los Angeles County officials on Sunday said appointments are available this week at the county’s five large coronavirus

vaccination centers at Magic Mountain, the Pomona Fairplex, Cal State Northridge, the Forum in Inglewood and the County Office of Education in Downey.

Appointments can be booked at www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/vaccine/index.htm.

Although Pasadena has its own health department, nearby Altadena is under L.A. County’s jurisdiction.

Residents who receive their first dose of the vaccine at a large capacity county-run vaccination site will be provided the date and location to receive their second dose, and be automatically registered for their second dose appointment. They will also get email reminders.

Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health have been urging patience among residents anxious to get a COVID-19 vaccination, with supplies remaining woefully short and the overburdened online reservation system leaving many people frustrated as they try to schedule appointments.

“We are also seeing a decline in hospitalizations and several other indicators we track, including test positivity rate, percentage of emergency department visits associated with COVID-19, and percentage of respiratory specimens positive for COVID at sentinel laboratory surveillance sites,” said

Dr. Paul Simon, the Department’s chief science officer.

“However, despite these promising trends, I do want to emphasize that the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths remain far too high,” Simon said. “So while there’s reason to be hopeful, we all must remain vigilant and continue to be disciplined, wearing masks, physically distancing when outside the home, avoiding gatherings and washing our hands frequently.”

Simon said the five sites — each capable of administering 4,000 shots per day — will be operating at much lower capacity this week, likely in the 2,000 to 2,500 range.

The county expects to receive about 143,900 more doses of vaccine this week. However, since people need to receive two doses of the medication, spaced three to four weeks apart, the bulk of the vaccine coming this week will be used to administer second doses to people who have already received the first shot. 

Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer estimated earlier that only 37,900 of the new doses will be available for people to receive their first dose.

The state is upgrading its vaccine-appointment website, to which the county system is linked, so it should operate more smoothly this week.

The county also has a call-in reservation system, which is available from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. at (833) 540-0473. But that line should be used only by people unable to use the website, since call volumes are already exceedingly high, Simon said.

Also Sunday, officials announced the planned opening of a pop-up COVID-19 walk-up testing site at Veteran’s Memorial Park, 6364 Zindell Ave. in Commerce. The site will open Tuesday.

Tests are free and proof of medical insurance is not required. All on-site testing will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Jan. 26-30.