The Cal State Los Angeles mass vaccination site will allow any adult to stand in line for a COVID-19 vaccine between Thursday and the end of Sunday, the governor’s Office of Emergency Services said Wednesday night.
The decision comes about a week before the state, starting April 15, formally allows any Californian 16 and older to get the vaccine.
The move came about because there has, in recent days, been excess capacity at the Cal State L.A. site to administer COVID-19 vaccinations.
Thousands of appointment slots there have gone unbooked by eligible people through the MyTurn registration website. As a result, vaccinators at the site have been allowed to inoculate adults walking up to the site without an appointment — including people outside of the eligibility criteria, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesman with the Office of Emergency Services.
“Over the last handful of days, we haven’t been able to fill all of the appointments,” Ferguson said. As a result, staff on site “were starting to take walk-ups. Today is the day where it took off.”
Anyone 18 and older will be allowed to wait in line to get the vaccine at the Cal State L.A. site between Thursday and Sunday night, Ferguson said.
“As long as vaccines remain available, we’ll vaccinate until we’re out,” he said.
People can wait to see if vaccines are available at the site’s pedestrian walk-up area, said Cal-OES spokesman Greg Renick.
Vaccinators will still prioritize appointments made through the state’s MyTurn system, which can only be made by people aged 50 or older, those with underlying medical conditions, and for people who work in specified essential jobs, such as healthcare, education, child care, emergency services, and food and agriculture.
The Cal State Los Angeles vaccination site is now being run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Management of the site will be turned over to the city of Los Angeles on Monday morning.
The Cal State L.A. vaccine site is open between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. People do not have to live or work in L.A. County to be eligible for a walk-up vaccination at the Cal State L.A. site.
The Cal State L.A. site administers the Johnson & Johnson shot, which requires only one dose.
Other counties have decided to move faster than the state’s guidance in allowing all adults, and also some teenagers, to get access to the vaccine. In Southern California, Kern, Riverside and San Bernardino counties have made anyone aged 16 and older eligible to get the shot.
