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The San Francisco Department of Public Health and city hospitals were “surprised” by the lack of doses, Dr Rutherford said, and by the widening of eligibility to people 65 and over, which has likely caused strained the system. Various vaccine distribution channels – such as Kaiser Permanente and the University of California at San Francisco – receive the doses on their own, he said, further complicating an already convoluted distribution system.
“So it’s a bit difficult for the city to figure out exactly what’s left, what to do, where the holes need to be filled,” said Dr Rutherford. Still, new vaccination sites are opening up in San Francisco, which Dr Rutherford says would help speed up the process once new doses become available. “There is this tension between efficiency and fairness,” he said. “It’s never easy.”
Dr Grant Colfax, head of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said the city was “very close to dose depletion” and said a lack of overall coordination has led to distribution issues.
“I think what it really is is a continuation of the fallout from the lack of a coordinated federal response,” he said. “Basically, cities and counties have been left alone to deal with this pandemic.”
He said local jurisdictions “just don’t have the resources and the capacity” to handle the complicated effort without help. “It manifested itself in a very tragic way.”
In Austin, Texas, Curt Fisher, a 76-year-old man who has served on the boards of several high-tech start-ups, experienced the bewildering obstacles to getting a vaccine firsthand. He was playing golf with friends several weeks ago when they learned Austin Public Health had vaccines available.
They quickly checked in with their cell phones from the golf course and got appointments within minutes. The system was quickly overwhelmed and Mr. Fisher, who had waited about 30 minutes to call, missed.
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