Cal Poly Pomona To Serve As Vaccine Hub

POMONA, CA — Pomona will be getting its second vaccine supersite Friday: a consortium of health care companies are launching a community mass vaccination site at California Polytechnic State University Pomona Friday, Kaiser Permanente announced Thursday.

The 145,000-square-foot site at the university's Parking Structure #2 site has the potential to vaccinate 10,000 people per day depending on vaccine availability, according to Kaiser Permanente - an amount rivaling LA's supersite Dodger Stadium. The hub will feature 16 check-in stations and four pods, for a combined total of 48 vaccination stations.

The site was funded by Kaiser Permanente, Adventist Health, the California Medical Association, CommonSpirit, Dignity Health, and Futuro Health, with coordinating assistance from the CaliforniaPrimary Care Association and the American Red Cross. Though the site has the potential to vaccinate 10,000 people daily, it only anticipates about 500 vaccinations on its opening Friday.
Still, it will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and plans to initially prioritize anyone over the age of 75, though anyone able to get vaccinated in California will be eligible. Anyone interested in a vaccine must make an appointment through the state's MyTurn vaccine scheduling website.

"Our health care teams are diligently working to get as many 'shots-in-arms' as possible for those most at risk," Daryn Kumar, president/CEO of Dignity Health's St. Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center, told City News Service. "Despite the extra demands our caregivers have faced over the past year, they are once again responding with enthusiasm to help pave our community's way out of this historic emergency."

Pomona already hosts one of LA County's six existing vaccine supersites at the Pomona Fairplex. Cal Poly Pomona will join Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California State University, Northridge in Northridge, the L.A. County Office of Education in Downey; and the Forum in Inglewood, and Dodger Stadium as sites that are vaccinating thousands of people a day.

County Supervisor Hilda Solis said Monday that 7.9 percent of people in Los Angeles County have received at least a first dose of the vaccine, and the county had administered 79.8 percent of its supply. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said that last week the county received 991,375 doses of the vaccine, and administered 790,902 shots.

"L.A. County has administered more doses to date than any other large county or large city in the United States, and we have the highest percent administration rate,'' Ferrer said.

Still, Ferrer acknowledged that the vaccine's limited availability has slowed the county's efforts.

The county's weekly allocations average around 140,000, many of which must be reserved to provide second doses to people who have already received the first shot.

Related coverage:
Vaccine Super Sites Open In Los Angeles County | Los Angeles, CA Patch
LA County Plans To Add 5 More Vaccination Sites By Next Week | Los Angeles, CA Patch
COVID-19 Vaccinations Will Take Until 2022 In LA At Current Rate | Los Angeles, CA Patch

— Michael Wittner and City News Service contributed to this report.