The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to stop operating two mass vaccination sites in California next month, including one at the Oakland Coliseum, just days before the state makes everyone 16 and older eligible for a shot.
The two sites in Oakland and Los Angeles opened in February for an eight-week pilot program that concludes on April 11.
The sites will switch from the Pfizer to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires just one shot, during the final two weeks of operation so that people do not have to sign up for a second dose elsewhere.
State and county officials said they would have liked the program to continue, though it provided a small fraction of California’s overall shots. The two sites combined have administered half a million doses, with about 67% going to underserved communities and people of color, according to the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for the agency, said the state is working with Los Angeles and Alameda counties to see if they can continue to put the sites at the Oakland Coliseum and Cal State Los Angeles campus to use. The state asked for an extension of the program but it has not been granted.
“We’ve been clear that California is ready to continue the mission if further funding and vaccines would be allocated by the federal government,” he said.
Representatives for the Alameda County Public Health Department, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Keith Carson did not respond to requests for comment about the closure of the Oakland site.
Frank Mansell, a spokesman for FEMA, said while the sites may keep operating in some fashion, the special allocation of doses will not continue after April 15. The closure of California’s sites does not mean sites will be opening elsewhere, he said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday the state will allow everyone 16 and older to be eligible for the vaccine starting on April 15. Right now people 65 and over, younger people with certain health conditions and farmworkers, teachers and several other occupations are eligible. The state is soon expecting a much greater supply of doses.
This is a news brief. For the full story head to the Associated Press.
— Kathleen Ronayne and Stefanie Dazio, Associated Press