San Francisco launched its first neighborhood COVID-19 vaccine site Monday in one of the areas hit hardest by the pandemic, the Mission District.
The new, small-scale site is located at 24th and Capp streets, and is currently administering vaccines by appointment only to health care workers and people over 65. The site is able to vaccinate 120 people per day, but in the future the city hopes to ramp up to 200 to 400 doses daily, when more supply becomes available.
The location became operational a month after the city opened its first mass vaccination site at City College of San Francisco.
San Francisco hopes to ultimately vaccinate up to 10,000 residents a day between all of its planned vaccination sites.
"COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted our Latino community, which is why it's so important that we're bringing these vaccines directly to the neighborhoods that have been hit so hard," Mayor London Breed said in a statement.
The new site is run by UCSF, the Latino Task Force and Unidos en Salud/United in Health.
Latino residents in the city, as well as across the state, have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, accounting for 42 percent of all San Francisco cases while representing just 15 percent of its population.
As more vaccine becomes available, the city is seeking to add neighborhood sites in the Bayview, Chinatown, Western Addition, Outer Sunset and Potrero Hill neighborhoods. Officials said they expects to receive about 11,000 more doses this week.
The city is encouraging people who live or work in San Francisco to sign up to receive notifications when they become eligible to receive the vaccine at www.sf.gov/vaccinenotify.
—Bay City News