Four San Francisco schools offer weekly on-site vaccine clinics

Four San Francisco public school sites this week will offer Covid-19 vaccine shots in an effort to support vaccinating eligible individuals at schools and nearby neighborhoods, city officials announced Monday.

The Department of Public Health is launching the vaccination school sites in partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District at Malcolm X Academy School (Bayview), McCoppin Elementary School (Inner Richmond) Balboa High School (Excelsior) and Sunset Elementary School (Outer Sunset).

Each site will initially administer vaccines once a week and will have capacity to inoculate 62 persons a day and can expand to 200 persons a day if needed, officials said. The sites will prioritize staff and families with children in the SFUSD, but general public in the neighborhood can also get vaccinated at the schools. Each site will welcome walk-ins.

Mayor London Breed said in a statement:

“We’re continuing to provide support to SFUSD to make it as easy as possible for everyone involved in the school community to get vaccinated. That’s the best way we can protect and keep our students, educators, and staff safe, especially our children under 12 who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.”

Last week, public health officials released data showing that cases among children remain relatively low, even through the recent surge caused by the delta variant. As of Sept. 6, less than 20 percent of overall cases throughout the pandemic have been in children under the age of 18.

As of Sept 8, the school district reported 227 cases out of nearly 52,000 students and nearly 10,000 staff members. Public health officials said the majority of infections are happening outside of school.

While 81 percent of eligible residents are fully vaccinated, DPH Director Dr. Grant Colfax said The City needs to more work to close the gap, adding:

“Our priority remains in protecting our most vulnerable populations – these include children under 12 years old who have started the school year unvaccinated. Through our guidance we have many safeguards in place to support schools, and vaccinating the school community is a critical part of our efforts.”

Public health officials added that as of Sept. 8, there have been no reported Covid-19 outbreaks on school sites, which the department defines as three or more cases in non-related households where the source of infection occurred on a school site and not in another setting. 

SFUSD Superintendent Vincent Matthews said in a statement:

“Offering the vaccine at our school sites will ensure that those who are not yet vaccinated have the opportunity to do so in safe, accessible, and welcoming spaces.”

Below is the list of schools offering weekly on-site vaccinations:

• Malcolm X Academy School
  350 Harbor Road in the Bayview
  3:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays starting Sept. 14.
• Balboa High School
  1000 Cayuga Ave in the Excelsior
  2:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays starting Sept. 15.
• McCoppin Elementary School
  651 6th Ave in the Richmond
  10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. on Saturdays starting Sept. 18.
• Sunset Elementary School
  1920 41st Ave in the Sunset
  10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. on Sundays starting Sept. 19