COVID-19 vaccinations taking place in the parking lot of Anaheim’s Disneyland Resort have been so successful that the Orange County Board of Supervisors is planning a second site.
“We are supportive of the concept of standing up these remote sites but the individual places are decided by the administration and the county Health Care Agency working with the particular businesses," said Supervisor Don Wagner. "We’re trying to get the next site opened in South County at a private institution because they've got the room.”
Gov. Newsom drew criticism last year when he ordered theme parks, such as Disneyland and Universal Studios, to be closed. The trade association, California Attractions and Parks Association, called on Gov. Newsom to reopen theme parks in the state, however Disneyland CFO Christine McCarthy said the resort will remain closed, according to media reports.
“If the governor were at some point to reopen Disney, I'm sure we'd have conversations about Disney’s space needs and their parking needs, but that isn't something I'm expecting to happen anytime soon,” Wagner told Southern California Record. “The goal of the vaccine operation is to get everybody vaccinated by July 4. So we're looking at many months."
As previously reported, Gov. Newsom is aiming to distribute some 1 million doses in response to 2,900,246 confirmed coronavirus cases, resulting in 32,960 deaths, according to the state’s COVID dashboard.
“What we're seeing is folks are eager to sign up and either get the vaccine at those sites or the people we've contacted about being an additional vaccination location are very receptive,” Wagner said in an interview.
Los Angeles opened its vaccination supersite at Dodger Stadium last week. Dodger Stadium and Disneyland Resort are among 31 sites the state has designated to distribute the vaccine.
“It is my understanding that the state has a number of doses of both vaccines and it's shipping an allotment to one County and an allotment to another County,” Wagner said.
The Daily Sundial reported last month that the state was allocated 672,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and 630,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
However, some doses of the Moderna vaccine have been suspended due to possible allergic reactions that the CDC is investigating, according to a Jan. 18 Orange County advisory.
“I would love to get direct allocations from the federal government but as we run low, our only choice right now is to go to the state and ask for more,” Wagner added. “That's where there's a bottleneck.”