Gov. Gavin Newsom received his COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday morning in Los Angeles as California expanded vaccine eligibility to residents ages 50 to 64.
"I have been looking forward to this for many, many months," said Newsom, 53.
Newsom traveled to a shopping mall in Baldwin Hills to get his inoculation from Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. The governor received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which only requires one dose.
"It's an opportunity to remind people that they're eligible, everybody in California 50 and over," Newsom said. "It's also an opportunity to highlight the J&J vaccines that are now coming in."
More than 18 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state, and today's expansion of eligibility, plus another coming up in two weeks, will add millions more to that total.
Beginning on April 15, all residents ages 16 and older will be allowed to make appointments to be vaccinated, although some counties have already taken that step.
Key to the buildup of vaccinations in the state is a growing supply of doses from vaccine makers Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.
This week, Johnson & Johnson announced that it had to discard 15 million doses because of quality control errors at a facility in Baltimore.
On Thursday, Newsom said the error would not have short-term effects on the state's supply of the company's vaccines. Those allotments are guaranteed three weeks in advance, and the dose Newsom received was produced in the Netherlands.
"Our three-week window on J&J has not been impacted by this manufacturing issue in Baltimore," Newsom said. "Beyond that, it's an open-ended question."