Long Beach Offers Hundreds of Vaccinations to Food Industry Employees, No Appointment Needed

Long Beach issued an invitation to employees who are the backbone of the city's food industry — visit the city's Convention Center Friday and get vaccinated. 

The city’s super-sized vaccination event at 300 East Ocean Boulevard will deliver shots to thousands of people in the food industry, including restaurant and grocery workers. 

“Our food economy is critical to our success, and we are going to make sure it’s safe and workers are vaccinated,” said Mayor Robert Garcia, whose mother and step-father died last year due to COVID-19.

Vaccinations are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and continue until 5 p.m.

The event includes 500 slots for which no appointments will be necessary. If the slots are filled while people are waiting, the city will make a vaccination appointment for the following week.

Proof of employment in the food industry, such as a paystub or employee ID, will be required.

The city contacted restaurants and markets about the event in an effort to vaccinate all food workers. Anyone eligible and interested in a home appointment can visit the city's web site request form or call 562.570.INFO (4636).

Plan Your Vaccine: How and where to get vaccinated.

The vaccination effort continues into the weekend with the rollout of two new mobile vaccination clinics in Long Beach. The mobile units will target senior housing properties and home-bound residents.

Twenty percent of those eligible in Long Beach for the vaccine have received a shot, Mayor Garcia said.

Los Angeles County is on track to exit the restrictive purple tier of the state's four-level economic-reopening road map by late March. If it advances to the less-restrictive red tier, more businesses could be cleared to open, including indoor dining, movie theaters and fitness centers, all at limited capacity.

Figures released by the state Tuesday put the county's adjusted average daily rate of new COVID-19 infections at 7.2 per 100,000 residents. If that number falls to 7 per 100,000 residents and stays at that level for two weeks, the county will be able to move out of the restrictive purple tier of the state's ``Blueprint for a Safer Economy,'' and into the red tier.

Meanwhile, the state announced a major policy shift on Thursday, diverting 40% of all vaccine supplies to people in lower-income communities hard hit by the pandemic. In conjunction with that shift, when the state reaches select milestones in the number of vaccinations in those communities, it will adjust the required case rates to allow counties to more easily advance in the reopening blueprint.

Moving to the red tier of the blueprint would also allow in-person instruction to resume for students in grades 7-12. The county already meets the requirements for in-person classes for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade.