In January, Cerritos College announced that negotiations were underway and an official Los Angeles County vaccine site opening at the college was imminent.
At the Feb. 3 Board of Trustees meeting President Dr. Jose Fierro, Superintendent of Cerritos College, said that Blue Shield would now be the provider of COVID-19 vaccines at the state level, as indicated by a directive from the L.A. County Public Health Department.
“What this means is that they are going to take the distribution to the local level. They are basically going to use local clinics, community hospitals and drug stores to be able to deliver vaccines in smaller numbers but in more locations to try to reach a larger portion of the population.
“This is actually good news for the communities around our institution that often times do not get access to the larger vaccination sites, because you cannot drive or be away from home for too long and so on. This is a step in the right direction in order to reach more of our population,” said Fierro.
“The bad news is until that partnership is completed, it is unlikely that we will be deployed as a community vaccination site. They are continuing to concentrate on the transition and maintaining the supply line for the mega sites.”
Currently, there are approximately eight super sites being operated by the LA County Public Health Department. They are located at Dodgers Stadium, Magic Mountain, the Pomona Fairplex, the Forum, Cal State Northridge, El Sereno Recreation Center, the L.A. County Office of Education in Downey and the Balboa Sports Complex in Encino.
Although the community vaccination designation may not happen, Cerritos College is still slated to distribute the vaccine to employees and students.
Cerritos Colleges’ Student Health Center is enrolled in the California Department of Health and COVID ready vaccination program.
“We have received approval and are now on the waiting list to receive vaccines. This is totally separate and apart from the community site that the county would be in charge of on campus. And it would be on a much smaller scale,” said Dr. Hillary Mennella, Associate Dean of Student Health and Wellness.
“I’m not sure how much vaccine we will receive or exactly when we will begin receiving it,” Mennella said.
According to Dr. Fierro, the college vaccination site should be able to begin scheduling appointments for employees to receive the vaccination at some point in mid February.
“The hang-up on this is the availability of the vaccine. Vaccinations sites for educators in those counties that have not opened yet should be available sometime later this month, however this situation is fluid and ever changing,” Fierro said.
Vaccine rollout began Dec. 14 and currently the vaccinations are being administered to individuals that are considered higher risk and who have a high chance of exposure. At the present time, this is health care workers and senior citizens who are 65 years of age or older.
According to the official COVID-19 site for California, 4,914,630 vaccinations have been administered as of Feb. 9. Out of those, 1,221,515 were received and administered in Los Angeles County. Another 7,634,975 have been divided and shipped to the various counties for distribution.
Find out whether or not you are eligible by answering some simple questions. You can also register to be notified when it is your turn.
Healthcare workers and seniors 65 years of age or older can use myturn.ca.gov or call 833-422-4255 to book vaccination appointments.
As the battle to reduce the impact COVID-19 has in Los Angeles County, vaccination sites are being created in areas throughout the county. The Cerritos College community, however, may have to wait a bit longer.
