Gloved hands apply a bandaid to the shoulder of a young boy wearing a blue medical procedure mask.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Goes Out Into the Community to Offer Free COVID-19 and Flu Vaccine Clinic for the Whole Family

Appointments available now for select dates at CHLA Specialty Care Centers in Arcadia, Encino and the South Bay

LOS ANGELES (January 3, 2022)Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is offering free COVID-19 and flu vaccines for the whole family at its Specialty Care Centers in Arcadia, Encino, and the South Bay during select dates in January. Appointments for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are available for those ages 5 and older at MyTurn.ca.gov, California’s official vaccination appointment scheduling system. The clinics are also offering the Pfizer-BioNTech booster for eligible individuals ages 12 and up; booster shots can be administered five months after the second dose. Flu shots are available on a walk-in basis for those 6 months of age and older. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is safe to get the COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the same time.

“With COVID-19 cases on the rise again, and the threat of the more transmissible Omicron variant, it’s crucial that families stay vigilant and not allow pandemic fatigue to settle in,” says James Stein, MD, MSc, FACS, FAAP, Chief Medical Officer of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “The most important thing people can do to keep themselves and their loved ones safe is to get fully vaccinated. The COVID-19 vaccine has been proven to be safe and effective for everyone ages five and up, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is committed to doing its part in spreading this message and helping to make vaccines more accessible in the community.”

CHLA’s vaccine clinic schedule, with MyTurn appointment links included, is as follows:

CHLA has been serving its local community as a COVID-19 vaccination site since February 2021 and has also made it a priority to go beyond its campus on Sunset Blvd. to vaccinate underserved communities. In March and April, CHLA vaccinated over 500 community members at a pop-up vaccine clinic in Macedonia Baptist Church in South L.A. and another 250 community members at Antelope Valley Recreational Center. CHLA also targeted schools, providing staff for Inglewood High School’s vaccine clinic and vaccinating over 750 students and family members at South El Monte High School and over 470 students and family members at Mountain View High School. In November, CHLA became one of the first hospitals on the West Coast to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5-11 following CDC approval of the Pfizer vaccine. To date, CHLA has administered more than 44,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine both at the hospital and out in the community.

About Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Founded in 1901, Children's Hospital Los Angeles is the highest-ranked hospital in California and fifth in the nation on the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals. U.S. News ranks Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in all 10 specialty categories. Clinical care at the hospital is led by physicians who are faculty members of the Keck School of Medicine of USC through an affiliation dating from 1932. The hospital also operates the largest pediatric residency training program at a freestanding children’s hospital in the Western United States. The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is home to all basic, translational, clinical and community research conducted at the hospital, allowing proven discoveries to quickly reach patients. Our mission: to create hope and build healthier futures. To learn more, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter, and visit our blog at CHLA.org/blog.