A second vaccination site outside, San Francisco, has opened in the Mission District, intended to increase the distribution of vaccines in one of the hardest-hit communities in the pandemic.
After the soft launch of the drive-through mass vaccination room at City College ten days ago, the city of San Francisco opened a smaller-scale, community vaccination site in a parking lot, a block from the BART station at 24th and Mission streets that is able to vaccinate 400 people a day. To get started, as Mission Local reports, the site aims to release 120 shots per day as part of the soft launch, and this will be done during limited hours: 9am to 2pm, Sunday to Wednesday.
Removing up to 400 vaccinations per day will depend on the provision of the vaccine and possibly longer working hours.
The outdoor facility is the result of a partnership between UCSF, the Latino Task Force and the SF Department of Public Health, which have also worked together over the past year to host pop-up test sites in this area. The current test site at 24th Street BART Station Square, run by Unidos and Salud, also runs four days a week, the Chronicle notes.
“COVID-19 has excessively affected our Latino community, which is why it is so important that we bring these vaccines directly to the neighborhoods that have been hit so hard,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement announcing the launch of the website .
“We are ready to administer 10,000 doses per day [across the city]”But to ensure fair distribution people gather where they are, especially in the communities hardest hit,” Breed said on Twitter, adding that more vaccination sites like these will open in the Visitacion Valley, Bayview and elsewhere.
We are in the Mission this morning on the first day of our neighborhood vaccination center!
We open these sites throughout SF, in addition to three high-volume sites, to ensure we are ready for widespread distribution as supply increases. @Scott_Wiener @HillaryRonen pic.twitter.com/xWdJq8ANQw
– London Breed (@LondonBreed) 1 February 2021
“Today is an important milestone in our fight to combat COVID-19, and it is because of our collective partnership and trust in each other that we are able to bring vaccines directly to a population that is painful and excessive. affected by this pandemic, ”said Jon Jacobo, chairman of the Latino Task Force’s health committee, in a statement.
The interest in being vaccinated is high in the Mission neighborhood, as in many of San Francisco. Dr. Diane Havlir, a UCSF professor of medicine and co-founder of this collaboration with the Latino Task Force, tells the Chronicle: ‘We asked more than 5,000 adults who came to 24th Street BART Square for testing last month have, and 86 percent said they are open to being vaccinated. ”
Currently, as with other testing areas, only vaccines are given to health care workers and residents over the age of 65, and these are only health care workers on this site on Mondays and Tuesdays. Things are handled by appointment only, and eligible persons should inquire with their healthcare provider or local clinic about the scheduling.
Previously: Mass vaccination site starts softly at City College – no walk-ups allowed