San Francisco opened its first coronavirus vaccine site in the Mission district on Monday, with plans to open a second in Bayview in the coming days.
The Department of Public Health described the opening as a ‘soft launch’ as it takes time to set up operations and prepare staff and infrastructure while the city waits for more vaccine supplies to become available.
The site, located on 24th and Capp Streets, will initially be served by appointment only and will serve community health workers and locals over the age of 65 within the Unidos and Salud / United Health Network.
“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. She said the city is ready to administer 10,000 vaccines a day at various mass vaccinations, and smaller community sites as soon as the supply increases.
The Department of Health said during the soft launch period that the mission website will administer approximately 120 vaccinations per day. The site can administer up to 400 vaccinations per day as supply increases. It will work with the Unidos and Salud coronavirus test site at BART Square at 24th and Mission Street, which operates four days a week.
‘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, chair of the Latino Task Force’s health committee.
Latinos in San Francisco are excessively affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which accounts for more than 42% of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city, although it accounts for only 15% of the population, according to the most recent public health data. They are also responsible for more than 20% of deaths due to the disease.
The privately funded site originated from a Unidos and Salud collaboration between UCSF and the Latino Task Force, Biohub, which manages the mission sites in the Mission.
“We know that interest in vaccination is very high in the community,” said Dr. Diane Havlir, a professor of medicine at the UCSF, and a co-founder of the collaboration said. “We asked more than 5,000 adults who went to test at the 24th Street BART plaza last month, and 86 percent said they could be vaccinated.”
The Department of Public Health said it hopes to establish vaccination sites in the area in Bayview, Excelsior, Visitacion Valley and other neighborhoods with the highest infection rates for COVID-19. The city is also working with Safeway pharmacies to bring vaccines to different neighborhoods.
Aidin Vaziri is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]