30 December 2022 (Lloyd's List) - A VACCINATION scheme for seafarers arriving at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles is set to end on December 31, the port of Long Beach said in a statement. “We are proud to have sponsored free vaccines for sailors visiting the port. The Port is about more than just moving cargo, it’s about the people who move the cargo and keeping them healthy and safe,” said port of Long Beach executive director Mario Cordero. Under the programme, Long Beach’s department of Health and Human Services would send mobile vaccination units to ships docked at the San Pedro Bay ports and offer crewmembers the single-jab Johnson and Johnson vaccine for free. Nearly 12,000 seafarers working on 1,275 ships were inoculated since it was launched in the spring of 2021, according to the statement. “We are so pleased to have vaccinated so many international seafarers, many of whom had no opportunity to be vaccinated in their home countries,” said Long Beach Harbor Commission president Sharon L. Weissman. “The Long Beach community – the Port, the City, terminal operators and dockworkers – were able to help mariners coming to both our Port and the Port of Los Angeles. Together, we had a global impact in fighting the spread of COVID.” The programme has been operated by the City of Long Beach in partnership with the National Guard.