KTLA

L.A. County teachers, grocery workers, restaurant staff and other essential workers can sign up for COVID-19 vaccines

Los Angeles County public health officials released more information Saturday on how teachers, grocery workers, restaurant staff and other essential workers will be vaccinated against COVID-19 beginning Monday.

Starting March 1, many more people will become eligible for a vaccine in L.A. County: Education and childcare employees, food and agriculture workers, and emergency services and law enforcement personnel will all be able to sign up for their first doses.

Residents 65 and older, health care workers and those in assisted living facilities were already able to make appointments.

(L.A. Department of Public Health)

Those eligible can sign up for their doses Sunday at myturn.ca.gov.

In addition to being able to get their shots at any public vaccine site, the workers can get appointments at the county’s “mega POD” sites on days dedicated to their groups. “Mega POD” sites include the Pomona Fairplex, Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, The Forum in Inglewood, California State University, Northridge and the L.A. County Office of Education.

According to the county, here’s where the essential workers will be able to go to get their shots, and what they need to bring with them:

Public school districts:

Teachers and essential education support staff can sign up for doses at any of the county’s “mega POD” sites, or get them from their health care providers.

Some school districts may operate their own vaccine event or partnering with local hospitals or pharmacies to vaccinate their staff, health officials said.

SoFi Stadium will be used to vaccinate teachers, administrators and staff at Los Angeles Unified School District.

Sunday, March 7, at the county’s mass vaccination sites will be dedicated to staff at independent schools.

They must bring to the appointment: 

Early child care and education:

Child care staff can also make appointments at any of the county’s “mega POD” sites or their health care providers.

They can go to the county-run mega POD vaccination sites on Saturday.

Child care workers must bring: 

Grocery stores:

Albertsons, Vons, Pavilion, Sav-on, Costco and Ralph’s pharmacies will vaccinate their own in-store grocery, food distributions and transport workers.

Those working at other chains will be able to sign up to get the shots at county-run vaccination events for Food and Agriculture workers on Tuesday and Thursday.

Grocery workers with UFCW 770 will be vaccinated at mobile vaccine clinics.

The workers must bring:

Food service:

Those working at restaurants — including in table service, food preparation, carry-out and delivery — can also get vaccinated at the county-run site for Food and Agriculture workers on Tuesday and Thursday.

They must bring:

Farms and ports:

Farm and port workers will also be able to head to the county-run vaccination site for Food and Agriculture workers on Tuesday and Thursday.

Those who can’t make it to either vaccine events this week will be vaccinated through community-based partnerships with vaccine providers, officials said.

They must bring:

Food manufacturing:

Those employed in food manufacturing will also be able to sign up for their shots at the county-run vaccination site for Food and Agriculture workers on Tuesday and Thursday.

Food manufacturing employees in the city of Vernon will be vaccinated by Stacey Medical at mobile units and on-site locations.

They must bring:

Emergency services personnel can be vaccinated at the county’s mass vaccination sites Wednesday.

Nearly 1,960,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across Los Angeles County so far, but only 600,497 people have received both doses.

And while the county had the capacity to administer 500,000 doses this past week, it only received 211,000 doses for the week.

L.A. County is expecting 269,000 doses next week, and it will be allocating 103,000 of them for people getting their first shots.

“We are very hopeful our allocation of COVID-19 vaccination doses increases as more vaccine options become available,” L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “The more people that are protected with vaccine, combined with businesses and residents following the safety measures, the quicker we drive down cases and the sooner we move to less restrictive tiers that allow for additional reopening.”