Motorists in line at one of the country’s largest vaccination sites were briefly halted on Saturday afternoon as demonstrators descended on Dodger Stadium, the authorities said.
At about 1:50 p.m. Pacific time, officials from the Los Angeles Fire Department closed the stadium’s entrance, said David Ortiz, a spokesman the department. The closure lasted for about an hour before the entrance reopened, while vaccinations continued inside the stadium, Mr. Ortiz said. Cars were temporarily not let inside the entrance as protesters were trying to walk through the gates. About 50 protesters were present at the entrance.
All scheduled vaccines would be delivered, the police said on Twitter on Saturday evening. A spokeswoman with the Los Angeles Police Department said no arrests were made.
“The protest did not shut down the vaccination site,” Chief Michel Moore said in a statement on Twitter. “All appointments are being met.”
The Police Department and Fire Department did not comment on whether the protesters were affiliated with any groups or what exactly they were demonstrating against.
Photos posted to social media, however, show people holding posters with the words, “99.96% survival rate” and “End the Lockdown” as well as other paraphernalia that appeared to denounce the pandemic’s existence and coronavirus vaccinations. One protester held a sign at the gates reading, “Vaccine Makers have no liability for injuries or deaths.”
The vaccination site at Dodger Stadium opened on Jan. 15. Since then, those eager to get vaccinated have been met with a wide range of wait times, with the site highlighting some of the logistical hurdles of vaccinating people in one of America’s largest cities. In the past week, an average of almost 7,000 daily cases were reported in Los Angeles County, according to a New York Times database. The city of Los Angeles has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, as almost 83 percent of the doses the city has receive have been administered.
