LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Friday's COVID-19 vaccination appointments at Los Angeles city-run sites will be postponed due to supply delays caused by winter storms throughout the country, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced today.
“Severe weather across the country has disrupted travel and shipping nationwide, including delaying the delivery of our vaccines,'' Garcetti said. “Our city is ready to administer COVID-19 vaccines swiftly, safely and equitably -- and as soon as doses arrive in Los Angeles, we will get them into people's arms immediately.''
Two separate shipments of vaccines heading to Los Angeles were held up due to grounded flights and icy roads:
- 26,000 doses which were supposed to arrive Tuesday are currently in Kentucky
- 37,000 doses intended to be used for next week's appointments are currently in Tennessee.
Los Angeles County health officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether the county was also impacted by delays in vaccine deliveries.
Weather-related delays of vaccine shipments has also forced the closure of vaccination sites in Orange County and is causing delays in vaccinations in San Diego County.
“We are collaborating closely with the city of Los Angeles to ensure the vaccination distribution process is as smooth as possible,'' said Dr. Sujal Mandavia, chief medical officer of Carbon Health, which coordinates the city's vaccination efforts. “Second dose appointments will be prioritized, and it is our intent to administer those second doses within the CDC-recommended timeframe of 42 days after the first dose.''
The 12,500 people who had appointments scheduled at city-run sites Friday will receive a notification by text, e-mail or phone that their appointment is postponed, according to Garcetti's office. They will be prioritized for new appointments once the city receives vaccine supply and will receive a notification about their automatically rescheduled appointment.
The latest disruption comes less than a week after the city closed its vaccination sites last Friday and Saturday after exhausting its supply of first-dose Moderna vaccines.
Prior to running out of vaccines, the city received only 16,000 new doses for the week, while it was administering an average of 13,051 doses per day.