Pressure's mounting on FEMA to keep big COVID-19 vaccination site at Cal State LA open

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Pressure's mounting on FEMA to keep the big COVID-19 vaccination site at Cal State LA open.

The agency's due to pull out of that site and another one at the Oakland Coliseum in the coming days.

Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla are calling on FEMA to continue to provide "financial and logistical support" to both sites, which are administering a total of more than 7,500 shots a day.

They note, in a letter to the agency's acting administrator, that California is expanding eligibility to all adults on April 15 and say "this is precisely the time when mass vaccination sites...are needed."

Local officials are trying to keep the Cal State LA site going.

Dr. Paul Simon, with the county's public health department, said Friday that LA city and county officials were considering a number of options.

"We recognize it's a really important site and in no way want to scale back vaccination infrastructure. We are fairly confident we are going to be getting an increase of supplies of vaccines and so want to be well prepared to deliver it swiftly," he says.

The FEMA-run sites get their doses directly from the federal government.

Congressman Jimmy Gomez, who's also written to FEMA about this, describes the sites' operations as "a vital supplement" to the doses being provided by local and state officials.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Members of the National Guard work as motorists are lined up at a new large scale COVID-19 vaccination site at Cal State Los Angeles on February 16, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. The vaccine center is focused on those from vulnerable communities and will have the capacity to inoculate 6,000 people per day. It is staffed by federal and state government workers including members of the National Guard and officials from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)