San Francisco leaders argue over timing of mass coronavirus vaccination sites

As California works to remedy its slow vaccine rollout, a number of potential mass vaccination sites have been suggested statewide – including Levi’s Stadium, Oakland Coliseum and – further afield – Disneyland in Anaheim and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

However, none have been announced in San Francisco – leaving at least one critic frustrated.

“Let’s make this happen in SF,” supervisor Matt Haney tweeted. “It could be at Oracle, at Kezar, at many sites around town that were used for testing. We can do it – it’s time for the massive and widespread distribution of this vaccine in SF and beyond, under the leadership of our Department of Public Health.

The city is examining mass vaccination sites and identifies “several sites” that could serve as massive distribution points, according to the Mayor of London Breed and the director of health, Dr Grant Colfax. At a press conference on Tuesday, neither she nor Colfax indicated which venue could play the role. They said there were not enough vaccine doses available yet to require a large-scale site.

Breed and Colfax also said setting up a massive site for vaccine distributions would not serve those who need it most – homeless, uninsured or undocumented – in the early stages of a deployment. .

“It can’t be just one big massive site,” Breed said. “One lesson we learned from our testing system is that we need to work with our community partners and meet our most affected communities where they are.”

So far, the health department has distributed 22,150 doses of the vaccine to San Francisco General Hospital, Laguna Honda Hospital and small community clinics, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. Of these, 9,259 were administered.

The first people eligible for the vaccine under state guidelines include those working in hospitals and people working or living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Colfax said some next-level San Franciscans – people 65 and older – will be offered the vaccine this week.

The city first wants to look to localized community sites to immunize people who may fall through the city’s health care cracks, Breed said. San Francisco identifies “several sites” that could serve as massive distribution points, Breed said.

Colfax also said the city just doesn’t have enough vaccines at the moment to justify opening a massive site.

“When we have sufficient vaccine supply to meet the need for a mass vaccination site, we expect that site to be operational,” said Colfax.

But Haney, contacted by phone Tuesday, said it was “incredibly inappropriate and downright wrong” for the ministry to outsource distribution to private providers. Instead, he said, they should take responsibility for the widespread disruption in the city. He suggested the city should open a mass distribution site, like those planned or considered in Oakland and Santa Clara.

Haney called for a hearing on the city’s vaccine distribution plan at Tuesday’s supervisory board meeting. The supervisor himself – a frequent critic of the city’s public health department – does not have the direct power to change the city’s strategy for distributing the extremely limited vaccine supply, as this amounts to ultimately to the state and local public health department.

Still, he called for a more aggressive deployment to San Francisco, suggesting that there should be, for example, “a massive site in the Mission,” where Latin American residents have been particularly affected by the virus.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health “is explicitly deferring this responsibility in a way that other countries are not,” he said. “They’re going to have to change that … If people don’t have a site, like they did with COVID testing, it won’t work.”

The Department of Health declined to comment on Haney’s criticism on Tuesday.

Michael Williams and Trisha Thadani are editors of the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly indicated the status of the Oakland Coliseum and Levi’s Stadium locations. Discussions to make them mass vaccination sites are underway.