City of Long Beach being a Model for Administering Vaccines in California

California Governor Newsom took a trip to Long Beach Monday morning to tour the Long Beach Convention Center Covid-19 vaccination clinic and held a press conference with the Mayor of Long Beach over the state’s vaccination efforts.

“We are getting close to seven and half million people that have received at least one dose of the vaccination,” said Newsom in a press conference in Long Beach on Monday morning.

Newsom showed appreciation for Long Beach’s efforts to vaccinate teachers and health care workers.

Newsom addressed in a press conference that vaccination sites across California have limited supply of vaccines due to a manufacturing issue.

“There’s not enough vaccinations, there’s not enough doses,” said Newsom. “There’s not enough vaccines to accommodate the need and demand.”

Despite the many disparities in vaccines being distributed throughout LA County, there have been over 7.3 million doses of the vaccine rolled out in the state of California. However, there are approximately 40 million people in California. 

Newsom tweeted that Covid-19 hospitalizations are down by 41% and ICU admissions is down by 39%. Just one month ago, California surpassed 20,000 cases, with now only 6,760 positive cases.

“We are making progress,” said Newsom. “We are in a much better place than we’ve been.”

Newsom and Garcia also discussed in the conference the importance of re-opening schools for in-person instruction.

“When the state (of California) said that we can start vaccinating teachers, Long Beach moved and started vaccinating teachers,” said Garcia. “We encourage all health jurisdictions to begin vaccinating educators across the state.”

Garcia said he plans to re-open schools safely in March. 

The governor also encourages that educators and children be sent back to school by making the vaccine readily accessible for educators.

“It is critical that we safely get them back into schools as quickly as we can,” said Newsom. 

Starting on March 1st, California will allocate about 10% of the first-round vaccine doses they receive to vaccinate educators, teachers, and childcare workers. This move may bring schools closer to continue in-person classes.

“A month ago today, we reported the highest number of deaths in the state of California,” said Newsom. “Today we report

Newsom said that Long Beach is a model for the rest of California with the rollout of vaccines to essential workers, the elderly and teachers to resume in-person instruction. 

“Vaccination is increasing, continuing to see a pace of reopening safely with a modification,” said Newsom. “We’re moving in that direction with clarity, with determination, but cities like Long Beach are not waiting and we encourage others not to wait to prioritize this cohort.”

By Dawn Perkins @dawnravens