The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, praised Los Angeles’ efforts to equitably distribute its COVID-19 vaccines on Monday.
“I’m looking at the programs that Los Angeles has put together for equity and it’s extraordinary because the president has said he wants equity, so we’re going to have community vaccine centers that we can put in areas where there are demographically high representation of minorities,” Fauci said in an appearance on KNX Newsradio.
“We want pharmacies to be fully stocked in those neighborhoods, we want to have mobile units to go out into the less-than-well represented areas that are not easily accessible,” Fauci said during KNX-1070 In-Depth, in which appeared as a guest along with Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Fauci made note of Los Angeles’ mobile vaccination program, mobile outreach program and the Dependent Homebound Population Vaccination program.
“I’ve got to tell President Biden about this when I see him (Tuesday) and tell him about all these types of things that are going on. I’m sure he already knows it, as a matter of fact,” Fauci added.
The Dependent Homebound Population Vaccination program, which was announced last Thursday, is the city’s most recent initiative to equitably distribute the vaccine. Teams of Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters and personnel from Sean Penn’s CORE nonprofit will be deployed to the homes of homebound seniors who suffer from chronic disease, disability or other obstacles. Garcetti said the program’s goal is to vaccinate 300 seniors this week and increase from there.
Garcetti noted during his interview on KNX that the city’s vaccination programs will be able to handle an increase in vaccine doses expected in the next few weeks.
“In the city of Los Angeles we can do double — just in the city-run sites including Dodger Stadium, which we think is the largest in the world — we can do double the number of vaccines if we had the supply today,” Garcetti said.
He also said the city is going to focus on convincing people who are hesitant to get the vaccine.
“We’re really pressing hard that this is going to save your family’s life. Don’t let your family die. Don’t let your community get disproportionately impacted. We can save your life, but it depends on you stepping up,” Garcetti said.
