KTLA

Six Flags Magic Mountain mass COVID vaccine site to close, be replaced by 2 L.A. County sites

The mass COVID-19 vaccination site at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia is set to close, Los Angeles County officials announced Monday.

Vaccinations will end at the site on April 18, and it will be replaced by two other community-based inoculation sites at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita and Palmdale Oasis Park Recreation, both set to open April 19.

The move is part of Los Angeles County “evolving its vaccination distribution strategy and shifting to community-based sites to increase accessibility to the COVID-19 vaccines,” officials said in a news release.

The new vaccination sites will each have the ability to administer up to 2,000 vaccinations a day and are meant to serve residents from the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valley communities.

Both sites will provide walk-up appointment options, officials said.

“I am incredibly grateful to Magic Mountain for their generosity and critical partnership as we provided the vaccine to thousands of residents at their mass vaccine distribution site,” L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement.

The theme park started being used as one of five L.A. County’s mass vaccination sites in January this year. It opened with the capacity to inoculate 4,000 people a day.

Since then, its volunteers have administered 129,000 COVID-19 vaccines to county residents, officials said.

The end of vaccinations at Magic Mountain comes after the theme park reopened to the public following a yearlong closure.

The county’s other large-scale sites are still open, and they include the Pomona Fairplex, The Forum in Inglewood, California State University, Northridge and L.A. County Office of Education in Downey.

The county also has another two smaller scale walk-up sites.

“Ensuring equitable vaccine access for communities in the North County is a priority and I appreciate the collaboration between the County and our community partners, including Magic Mountain, to run efficient operations that support our monumental task of vaccinating our residents,” Barger said. “Moving forward, we are continuing to provide crucial vaccine accessibility for residents in both the Antelope and Santa Clarita Valleys.”

Also vaccinating L.A. County residents are nine sites in the city of L.A., 24 hospital vaccination sites, 131 pharmacy locations, over 200 community clinics and more than 300 other locations.

The county has administered more than 5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses so far, according to California state data.