Dear Friend --

There is no question that our city has had one of the most successful vaccine rollout efforts in California and as of today, we have hit another huge milestone: Long Beach has now vaccinated over 50% of eligible adults in our city.

Just under two weeks ago we began offering walk-up vaccinations to any resident 16 years or older and were one of the first jurisdictions in California to do so. As our economy slowly begins to open, the vaccination of so many will help slow community spread and move us closer to herd immunity.

Looking back, we were also one of the first to distribute vaccines to everyone 50 years and up — and I am so proud we took this step. I recently reflected on all our work to get vaccines out to our residents in an op-ed published in the Grunion Gazette. You can read that here.

Thank you to all those who stepped up and got the COVID-19 vaccine early on, and paved the way for the rest of our community. We have come such a long way in our vaccine efforts, and I want to encourage everyone to get vaccinated if you haven’t already. After so many weeks of vaccination around the country, we are moving closer and closer to a full reopening of the economy.

I am looking forward to strengthening our businesses, our organizations and our support for one another as a community.

Thank you and please continue to stay safe,

Mayor Robert Garcia