OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) - The Oakland Coliseum mass vaccination site will remain open for another month after initial plans to close on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state officials came to an agreement with Alameda and Contra Costa counties to continue running the site.
The only notable change to the public here is that the Coliseum will no longer get a direct allocation of vaccines from the federal government.
To make up for it, the state will now match the two counties' vaccine supply at that site and FEMA will remain there to assist.
“Forming a regional partnership with FEMA, Cal OES, with those two counties and we'll be matching the allocations coming from those two counties with the State allocation of vaccines,” Governor Newsom said.
Official plans were announced to keep the mass vaccination site open and running for another month.
He says the state, together with Alameda and Contra Costa counties, will take over management from FEMA.
“We were not successful extending beyond the commitment that the federal government made,” Newsom said.
While the federal government will no longer provide the COVID-19 vaccine supply, FEMA will remain at the site and starting next week, the state will match COVID-19 vaccine allocations coming from both Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
The site is expected to do 6,000 vaccinations per day.
“Tremendous news because as you said just a few days ago we were thinking oh it's going to close,” Supervisor Wilma Chan said.
Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan says this agreement came with good timing as the state expected to expand vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older next week.
“It's really important. They administered in the last 8 well 7 weeks, they administered over 300,000 doses so without that you have 300,000 less doses. For Alameda County, out of all the doses that we've given to people that live here, they did 15% so that's a significant amount,” Chan said.
On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the need to keep this site running and Senator Alex Padilla visited the site in person, advocating for its stay.
County leaders say they're seeing less vaccine hesitancy and more people wanting to sign up.
They say this site will be crucial for people across the Bay Area when expanded vaccine eligibility kicks in on April 15th.
You can still head to the state's MyTurn website to sign up.
Via Coronavirus | KRON4 https://www.kron4.com
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