LOS ANGELES (NewsNation Now) — California officials decried anti-vaccination protesters who forced the temporary shutdown of the inoculation center at Dodger Stadium, stalling hundreds of motorists who had been waiting in line for hours.
The Los Angeles Fire Department shut the entrance to the vaccination center at Dodger Stadium for one hour as a precaution, officials said.
About 50 protesters showed up. Some carried signs decrying the COVID-19 vaccine and shouting for people not to get the shots.
“These extremists tried to deny other people their choice to get the vaccine and they want to take away our freedom from this terrible pandemic,” Democratic state Senator Richard Pan, who’s also a pediatrician, said in a statement Sunday. “The fact that over 430,000 Americans have died of COVID is not enough for them as they oppose every effort to slow the disease: masks, testing, physical distancing and vaccines.”
The vaccination center, one of the nation’s largest. The site reopened shortly before 3 p.m., the Los Angeles Times reported. The site is usually open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Despite the 55-minute interruption, no appointments were canceled, said Andrea Garcia, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
“We remain committed to vaccinating Angelenos as quickly and safely as possible,” Garcia said.
No arrests were made, police said.
“This is completely wrong,” said German Jaquez, who drove from his home in La Verne and had been waiting for an hour for his vaccination when the stadium’s gates were closed. He said some of the protesters were telling people in line that the coronavirus is not real and that the vaccination is dangerous.
“Unbelievable,” Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez said on Twitter. “If you don’t want the vaccine fine, but there are millions of Angelenos that do. 16,000 of your neighbors have died, so get out of the way.”
After it reopened, Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted: “We will not be deterred or threatened. Dodger Stadium is back up and running.”
A post on social media described the demonstration as the “SCAMDEMIC PROTEST/MARCH.” It advised participants to “please refrain from wearing Trump/MAGA attire as we want our statement to resonate with the sheeple. No flags but informational signs only.
“This is a sharing information protest and march against everything COVID, Vaccine, PCR Tests, Lockdowns, Masks, Fauci, Gates, Newsom, China, digital tracking, etc.”
The Associate Press and NewsNation affiliate KTLA contributed to this report.