Dear Friend --

I wanted to take a moment and provide an update on our city's vaccination efforts. Next week Long Beach will start vaccinating educators at LBUSD and LBCC and continue with vaccines for food and healthcare workers, and seniors 65 and over. We continue to administer vaccinations as supply becomes available.

Please know there is a statewide and national vaccine shortage so we can only vaccinate folks based on the supply we are receiving and all appointments for the next week are currently full.

We are now encouraging ALL residents to sign up for VaxLB notifications to receive eligibility and future appointment information. When appointments open up, we will notify you by email or text.

To date, we have administered 30,000 vaccines free of charge and City staff has responded to more than 20,000 inquiries received via email and calls on the vaccine information line.

Appointment slots are based on the allocation of vaccine doses that the City receives for the following week. Allocations vary each week and have ranged from 100 to 11,600 doses.

The City has received 2,100 doses for the week of Jan. 25 for vaccinations at the Convention Center and will be adjusting appointments at the site accordingly. Health Department officials will be working with the Long Beach Unified School District, Long Beach City College and others in the education sector, as well as some food workers to begin offering vaccine for folks within these groups. Additional appointments will be subject to new allocation of vaccine.

Long Beach residents who are teachers should first check with their employer about vaccine details but are encouraged to sign up through VaxLB to receive notifications when they are eligible to receive vaccination. Sign up here.

We estimate healthcare workers, educators, food workers and 65+ to include more than 90,000 people. The City does not expect to complete this phase for several weeks.

At this time, no further groups will be added to the eligibility list. The order and eligible groups are set by the state.

Remember, the COVID-19 vaccine is a two-dose regimen and Health Department officials also need to plan to provide the second dose to those who have already received the initial dose. As vaccine becomes available, the Health Department will contact individuals to notify them to schedule an appointment to receive their second dose.

People are encouraged to get their second vaccine as soon as they are notified of availability. While it is recommended for second doses to be administered within a one-month period, there is no maximum interval between first and second doses for either vaccine, and effectiveness will not be impacted if a second dose is administered after the initial 21- to 28-day waiting period.

All Long Beach residents are encouraged to visit VaxLB, our new online vaccination portal, to learn more about the rollout process and sign up to be notified when it is their turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Individuals with additional questions may call 562.570.INFO (4636), option 6, or email [email protected].

Thank you and stay safe,

Mayor Robert Garcia