More of L.A.’s mass vaccination sites will shut down as clinics go mobile

Additional mass vaccination clinics run by the city of Los Angeles will begin to shut down over the next two months as the city expands its mobile vaccine clinics.

On Thursday, the Dodger Stadium mass vaccination site closed, and the city said that the site at Pierce College will shut on June 19, while the one at Los Angeles Southwest College will halt vaccinations on June 26.

By Aug. 1, the city expects to transition its vaccination program entirely to mobile clinics, which will pop up in places with lots of traffic and at special events; in areas with low vaccine rates and populations that are highly vulnerable; and will offer evening and weekend hours.

“We are putting our resources where they will do the most good — delivering doses directly to undervaccinated communities,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement.

The city’s vaccination program has administered 1.3 million doses across L.A.; that’s about 14% of all vaccine doses administered across the county. Of the doses L.A. has administered, 68% have gone to people of color.

The city’s announcement does not affect the vaccination sites run by Los Angeles County, which include the Forum (Inglewood), Balboa Sports Complex (Encino), College of the Canyons (Santa Clarita), Cal State Northridge, Eugene A. Obregon Park (East L.A.), Pomona Fairplex, L.A. County Office of Education (Downey) and the Palmdale Oasis Park Recreation Center.

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer has said there are no plans to wind down the county’s vaccination sites.

The vaccination rate in California peaked in early April, when about 400,000 doses were being given daily. The rate is now about 227,000 doses a day, slightly up over the past few days.

L.A. County continues to have big disparities in who is getting vaccinated. Among residents 16 to 64, only 34% of Black residents and 42% of Latino residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 57% of white and Native American and 67% of Asian American residents are at least partially vaccinated.

California has done relatively well in immunizing its residents, ranking 12th in the nation for having the greatest percentage of residents vaccinated. According to The Times’ vaccination tracker, 52% of both California and L.A. County residents have received at least one shot of vaccine.

San Diego County and a number of Bay Area counties have done even better, with vaccination rates of 64% to 73%. But some counties in the Central Valley, the rural north and the Inland Empire are lagging; San Bernardino County, for instance, reports only 38% of its residents at least partially vaccinated, and Kern County just 35%.

Other agencies have also said they’ll wind down mass vaccination sites and shift to mobile vaccine clinics.

Orange County said it will close its mass vaccination sites at the Anaheim Convention Center, O.C. Fair & Event Center, Soka University and Santa Ana College on June 6.

In the Bay Area, officials will close the Oakland Coliseum mass vaccination site on Sunday.