The Biden administration is working with California to open two new vaccination sites, one at the Oakland Coliseum and the other at California State University, Los Angeles.
The sites are slated to open on Feb. 16 and will be run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state’s Office of Emergency Services. The two pilot sites are part of a larger effort by the federal government to create 100 vaccination sites in the first 100 days of the Biden administration.
In a news conference Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the two locations were chosen to focus on communities hard hit by the virus.
“Equity is the call of this moment,” Newsom said. He said the sites were chosen with “the framework of making sure that communities that are often left behind are not left behind.”
Each site will host two mobile vaccination clinics. In addition to state and federal staff, Newsom said, people from nearby communities will be hired to work at the sites.
Newsom said the state will not reallocate vaccine from elsewhere to supply the sites, as the federal government will provide the additional doses. The goal, Newsom said, is to administer 6,000 doses per day at both sites.
Nearly 3.8 million vaccines have now been given across the state, as California’s new case numbers and test positivity rate continue to decline, a hopeful trend.