Long Beach offering free aquarium tickets in effort to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations

LONG BEACH, Calif. (CNS) -- In hopes of encouraging people to get vaccinated, Long Beach is offering two free tickets to the Aquarium of the Pacific to anyone receiving their first COVID-19 vaccine, city officials said Tuesday.

"While we have made tremendous strides in vaccinating 60% of eligible Long Beach residents and 96% of our seniors, we know that vaccine hesitancy for some is real,'' Mayor Robert Garcia said. "We are going to do everything we can to encourage folks to get vaccinated, and that includes incentives.''

The tickets are available through Saturday to anyone who receives their first dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or their one and only dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Adult general admission tickets at the Aquarium normally cost $36.95.

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City-run vaccination sites where tickets will be provided include:

-- Long Beach Convention Center;

-- mobile clinics at Admiral Kidd, MacArthur and Houghton Parks;

-- mobile vehicles for homebound individuals and people in hard-hit

neighborhoods; and

-- mobile vaccination at local schools.

"Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has slowed throughout the state of California and the U.S. in recent weeks, including in Long Beach,'' said Kelly Colopy, director of the city's Health and Human Services Department. "While Long Beach continues to be a leading force in the vaccination rollout, having vaccinated well over 300,000 people throughout the city, we are committed to finding innovative solutions to increase the number of people getting vaccinated.''

As of Monday, 53,107 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Long Beach, which has its own health department. The city has also logged 932 deaths from the virus.