Coliseum to become vaccination site

OAKLAND -- In conjunction with California Governor Gavin Newsom and the administration of President Joe Biden, the A’s announced on Wednesday finalized plans to set up the Coliseum as a COVID-19 vaccination pilot site.

“Today we are partnering with the Biden-Harris administration, the governor and his esteemed leadership, our mayor and our county officials to make this public mass vaccination site at the Oakland Coliseum,” A’s president Dave Kaval said. “It's a great day. We've obviously been hosting people here for generations to come to baseball games and football games and basketball games, and now folks can come out, actually get their shot and get vaccinated.”

The opening date, “first pitch,” as Kaval referred to it, is scheduled for Feb. 16. With the hiring of local individuals around Alameda County and the greater Bay Area, the hope is that the Coliseum vaccination site will have the capacity to administer a minimum of 6,000 doses per day upon its launch. FEMA and the Office of Emergency Services will be working with the county and local officials throughout the process.

“When we look county by county at all 58 counties here in the state of California, one county stands out in terms of their speed to administration in taking vaccines and getting people vaccinated, and that's Alameda County,” Newsom said. “I want to just recognize their partnership, their stewardship and their commitment to the cause that unites us here today.

“The reason this site was chosen was the framework of making sure that communities that are often left behind, are not left behind. As a consequence, we are blessed, not only by the announcement of this partnership with the Biden Administration but their full federal support in terms of the allocation of the resources to help us move forward with the distribution of these vaccines.”

The Coliseum will serve as one of two first-in-the-nation vaccination pilot sites that were announced on Wednesday. The other site will operate in Southern California at Cal State University Los Angeles, also starting Feb. 16.

Oakland’s mega vaccination site will be open to eligible members of the public. Those looking to get the vaccine will be able to sign up for an appointment using the state’s MyTurn App, which is expected to be available to all Californians in the coming weeks.