San Francisco opens Mission District vaccination site

San Francisco officials and the community Monday celebrated the soft opening of a Covid-19 vaccination site in the Mission District.

The area is among those hardest hit by the pandemic with an estimated case rate 103.6 cases per 10,000 residents over a 30-day period, according to Department of Public Health data. Latinos make up approximately 42 percent of confirmed Covid-19 cases, but represent 15 percent of The City’s population.

In collaboration with DPH, University of California, San Francisco and the Latino Task Force, the new appointment-only site, located near 24th and Mission streets, began vaccinating community health care workers and residents over the age of 65 within the Unidos en Salud network. The network is a partnership with UCSF and the Latino Task Force that has also been operating a Covid-19 test site, located just next door to the new vaccination site.

The Mayor’s Office said the site will initially have the capacity to vaccinate up to 120 people per day and could expand to serve between 200 to 400 people per day if supply becomes available.

Mayor London Breed said in a statement:

“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.”

The City has plans to open three mass vaccination sites, one of which opened last month at City College of San Francisco. The Moscone Center and the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market in the Bayview have been slated as locations for the other two.

The City is also working to build a network of smaller vaccination sites in neighborhoods by using mobile pop-ups and DPH clinics for uninsured and underserved communities.

Friday, Chinese Hospital announced it began vaccinating its patients over the age of 75.

Breed said a goal has been set to vaccinate 10,000 people per day through mass vaccination and neighborhood sites like the one opened Monday in the Mission District. City officials are planning to open another smaller-scale vaccine operation in the Bayview, but no information was provided about the potential location or when the site would open.

The vaccine distribution plans will depend on dose supply, which has been and remains unpredictable. DPH Director Dr. Grant Colfax said he expects to receive 11,000 doses this week.

DPH data shows that The City administered 106,664 doses of the vaccine through the end of January. Of those, 83,557 were given as first doses and 23,107 were used as second doses.

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.