A new addition to the county’s breakdown of coronavirus data by city and community now indicates how many vaccinations against the disease have been administered to residents.
The county public health department is additionally using a map Los Angeles County to present the data visually, and is presenting data on demographic breakdowns, including age ranges and vaccination rates by race or ethnicity.
As of the Review’s press deadline this week, at least 4,611 South Pasadena residents had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccines, representing 21.4% of the city’s population. In total, more than 1.6 million of L.A. County’s approximately 10 million residents have received one or both vaccination shots.
For the most part, vaccinations have been made available to health care workers and residents 65 or older. According to a 2019 estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau, around 13.9% of South Pasadena’s population is 65 or older. It is unclear how many health care workers live in the city, although its median home price of more than $1 million and median household income of more than $104,000 places it in the upper socioeconomic echelon of San Gabriel Valley cities.
In a statement, officials with the city declined to speculate on the relatively high percentage of residents who have been vaccinated thus far.
The county next expects to open vaccination availability to a wide range of essential workers, including teachers, those working in food or agricultural jobs and first responders such as police officers. Around 60% of the South Pasadena Fire Department’s firefighters have been vaccinated, as they also handle paramedic duties, according to the city.
The city added that the Fire Department currently has no plans to host a vaccine distribution site.
“Although all of our firefighter paramedics are trained and qualified to administer the vaccine, the department does not have the adequate resources to receive and store vaccine doses at our facility,” the city said in an unattributed statement. “If L.A. County decides to host a vaccination site in town, the Fire Department would support the site with firefighter paramedics, if requested.”
Meanwhile, local businesses such as Rite Aid and the pharmacies at Ralphs and Pavilions have been able to offer vaccinations to applicable customers.
As of the press deadline, there have been 1,253 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among South Pasadena’s residents, among whom 39 have died from the disease. In the prior 14 days, there had been 32 cases recorded. Countywide, daily new cases have plummeted for weeks following a winter holidays surge that pushed Southern California’s health care system to the brink.
