Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday confirmed 24 additional locations across the state are expecting to receive their first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine: nearly 400,000 doses are coming to California next week.
Southern California's ICU availability has now dropped to 1.7 percent.
As Moderna awaits the FDA approval, California will also receive more than 670,000 doses of the "Moderna" vaccine.
With more vaccine shipments arriving, the California government is rolling out a new campaign to vaccinate all Californians under the slogan "Vaccinate All 58", as in all 58 counties in the state.
Area hospitals received their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine Tuesday - a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom said "history made" at Kaiser Permanente in Hollywood where an ICU nurse was the first to receive the vaccine in SoCal. Locally, UCLA Health and Cedars-Sinai will get some of the first supplies over the next couple of days. The first batch of shots could be administered as early as tomorrow at Cedars-Sinai and Wednesday at UCLA health.
The initial rollout will be limited for front line workers and the most vulnerable. For some, wanting to be vaccinated against the killer virus, the wait could be as long as next summer.
The state government will spend $30 million in the first round of investment to encourage all Californians to be vaccinated -- especially those in minority groups -- such as African American and Native American communities -- who appear to be skeptical about the coronavirus vaccine in recent surveys.
