The Los Angeles International Airport will offer free, on-site COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots at two pop-up clinics starting Wednesday.
The shots will be offered to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 22 and Dec. 29 on the Lower/Arrivals Level of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, just beyond the U.S. Customs and Border Protection exit, according to a news release from LAX.
The pop-up clinic comes as health officials warned that L.A. County could already be seeing the beginning of another COVID-19 winter surge, with more than 3,200 cases reported every day since Friday — a notable increase from previous daily case numbers, which have largely remained below 2,000 in recent weeks.
The LAX vaccine clinic will offer vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer for ages 12 and up, a pediatric Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for ages 18 and older. The clinic will offer both first-time shots and boosters for individuals who were previously fully vaccinated and meet guidelines.
“Vaccines are the best, first defense against COVID-19,” Los Angeles World Airports CEO Justin Erbacci said in a statement. “We are pleased to be working with MedEx Pharmacy and the County Department of Public Health to offer our airport employees and visitors from around the world a convenient location to get vaccinated or boosted during the busy holiday season”
Those interested in receiving the vaccine at LAX can park in any of the available parking structures around the Central Terminal Area and walk or take the Airline Connector shuttle to the vaccination site. (The first 15 minutes in parking garages is free, with a cost of $7 to park for one hour.) Parking Structures 3 and 4 will be the closest to the vaccination site. The LAX Economy Parking facility is also an option for parking and offers a free shuttle to the terminals.
The vaccines will be administered by technicians with the site’s clinical partner, MedEx pharmacy, and are available without appointments. Follow-up appointments for those who require a second dose of the vaccine can be scheduled through My Turn or a local pharmacy.
The temporary clinic is a part of the LAX’s Travel Safely campaign, which also includes a rapid PCR COVID-19 testing lab at the airport.
The testing site offers voluntary antigen testing to international travelers, and information about the required federal quarantine period and testing guidance. Those who are tested will be able to receive their results before leaving the airport. Travelers that end up testing positive will be required to isolate, and people who have had close contact with them will be asked to quarantine. Others who test negative will be sent home with a test kit so they can test themselves again three to five days later.
The lab has processed more than 246,000 tests to date and continues to be popular among travelers who need or want a rapid COVID-19 test while traveling, according to LAX.
The Centers for Control and Prevention currently recommends that travelers get tested three to five days after arriving in the U.S.
With the holidays just around the corner, LAX on Sunday recorded one of its busiest days of this year’s holiday travel season, as up to 200,000 travelers were expected to use the airport.
As travel returns to its pre-pandemic levels this holiday season, the Automobile Club of Southern California previously said that the year-end holidays will be the third busiest on record for Southern California. Up to 3.5 million travelers are expected to pass through LAX between Dec. 17 and Jan. 3.
For additional information about vaccinations and testing at LAX, visit www.FlyLAX.com/TravelSafely.
