Los Angeles city-operated vaccination sites are preparing to administer nearly 150,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses this week — an increase in capacity that follows federal officials lifting a pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office.
The city already has a supply of about 29,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson, and is getting another 42,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and 63,000 more of the Pfizer vaccine this week, officials said.
A new vaccination site is also opening in Century City, where people can receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The L.A. County Department of Public Health allowed providers to resume administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over the weekend, provided they distribute the updated Janssen fact sheets to any recipients, officials said.
The country halted use of the vaccine for 11 days after reports of very rare blood clots among 15 women out of nearly 8 million people who received the vaccine.
On Friday, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee recommended resuming use of the vaccine, saying its benefits outweigh the rare risk of blood clots. Shortly after, the U.S. lifted the pause.
“We are grateful to the scientists and clinicians conducting this thorough review and are confident moving forward in distributing and administering the vaccine,” L.A. County health officials said.
This week, more than 100,000 first dose appointments and more than for 47,000 second doses are available across the 10 L.A. city-operated sites and mobile vaccine locations.
The city sites have have so far administered over 1,137,829 doses of the more than 7 million doses given countywide, according to city and state data.