California to open multiple ‘mass vaccination sites’ this week

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Monday that the state would be opening up multiple “mass vaccination sites” this week as cases continue to surge in the state.

Newsom tweeted Monday that the new sites would include places such as Dodger Stadium, Padres stadium and Cal Expo.

California on Monday surpassed 30,000 confirmed deaths due to COVID-19. The state has so far reported more than 2.6 million coronavirus cases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 800,000 vaccines have been administered of the 2.8 million that were distributed in California.

Newsom said the state’s goal is to administer 1 million doses of the vaccine by this weekend, according to a report by KABC-TV.

“We are obviously going to need substantially more doses to get into this next phase, and we hope to learn more with the new administration soon,” Newsom said, KABC-TV reports.

“They intend to release a lot of the stockpile of doses and we’ll start to see a greater clarity … so that we can deal with the anxiety that I know is palpable.”

To do so, the governor said he would like to expand the list of eligible vaccine recipients to include pharmacists, dentists, nursing students, firefighters and National Guard strike teams.

According to data from The COVID Tracking Project, there are currently more than 22,000 people in California hospitalized due to COVID-19.