What to Know
- Anti-vaccination protesters showed up at the Dodger Stadium vaccination site Saturday.
- The protest briefly disrupted traffic entering the vaccination site, but shots were delivered despite the demonstration.
- If it happens again, the city plans to set up a protest zone outside the stadium parking lot.
A protest zone will be set up at Dodger Stadium if there are more demonstrations after dozens of anti-vaccination protesters showed up at the entrance to the mass vaccination site over the weekend.
Saturday’s protest briefly shut down of the inoculation center, stalling hundreds of driers who had been waiting in line for hours. The Los Angeles Fire Department shut the entrance to the stadium as a precaution at about 2 p.m. Saturday after it was blocked by a few dozen demonstrators.
Some of the marchers carried signs denouncing the COVID-19 vaccine and shouted for people not to get the shots.
The vaccination center, one of the nation’s largest, reopened shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday. The site is usually open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
It was closed as usual on Sunday.
The protest zone will be set up outside the Dodger Stadium parking lot in the event of more protests, city officials said.
Despite the 55-minute interruption, no appointments were canceled, said Andrea Garcia, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
No arrests were made, police said.
“This is completely wrong,” said German Jaquez, who had been waiting for an hour for his vaccination when the stadium’s gates were closed Saturday.
He said some of the protesters were telling people in line that the coronavirus is not real and that the vaccine is dangerous.
“Unbelievable,” Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez said on Twitter. “If you don’t want the vaccine fine, but there are millions of Angelenos that do. 16,000 of your neighbors have died, so get out of the way.”
After the site reopened, Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted: “We will not be deterred or threatened. Dodger Stadium is back up and running.”
When Could I Get the Vaccine?
Answer the questions to calculate your risk profile and see where you fall in your county's and state's vaccine lineup. This estimate is based on a combination of vaccine rollout recommendations from the CDC and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
For a more detailed breakdown of who is included in each priority group, see this methodology.
Source: the Vaccine Allocation Planner for COVID-19 by Ariadne Labs and the Surgo Foundation
Interactive by Amy O’Kruk/NBC
