Dose shortage forces temporary pause at Moscone, City College vaccination sites

San Francisco will temporarily pause two of its Covid-19 mass vaccination sites this week due to a lack of supply, city officials announced Sunday.

In a press release issued by the Department of Emergency Management, the Moscone Center site will pause vaccinating people until supply becomes available. Officials said they expect the site at City College of San Francisco to reopen Friday, but only to administer second doses.

In a tweet, Mayor London Breed said she is hoping for more information in the coming days and said The City will maintain enough second doses for those scheduled to receive one.

In another tweet, Breed said:

“I’m frustrated because we’ve shown that SF can administer shots as soon as they come in. CCSF has been running well for weeks. The reports from Moscone are overwhelmingly positive. The only thing holding us back is a lack of supply, and I’m hoping that will change soon.”

She added that no existing appointments will be canceled.

City officials had said Moscone Center could inoculate as many as 10,000 people per day if supply became available. At the City College site, officials had hoped to vaccinate as many 3,000 people per day.

A third mass vaccination site is expected to open this week, but with limited appointments.

Officials said as of Saturday, The City has received 262,000 doses and administered more than 190,000. Remaining doses are reserved for already scheduled first doses and for needed second doses.

As of Thursday, The City was administering more than 7,400 doses per day on a seven-day rolling average, up by nearly 3,000 daily doses one week prior. Officials estimate that 47 percent of the 65 years of age and older population have been vaccinated.

City officials estimate they will need more than 1.5 million doses in order to vaccinate the more than 760,000 residents over the age of 16. 

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.