San Francisco opens 1st neighborhood vaccination hub in Mission Dist.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- It's a monumental day for San Francisco's Mission District. Latinos are the demographic with the highest number of COVID-19 cases not only in San Francisco, but statewide, and a new neighborhood vaccination hub means the city is listening. Their plan is to vaccinate 120 people a day and work their way up from there.
"It has arrived and it is such an amazing moment for the community. Specially a community who is still experiencing a 14% positivity rate," said Jon Jacobo with the Latino Task Force.
But getting to this point wasn't easy. Jacobo says they gained the community's trust with consistent COVID-19 test sites.
RELATED: Bay Area groups call for Latino community to be prioritized in vaccine distribution
At those sites, UCSF doctors tested thousands in the neighborhood and answered questions about the vaccine.
"About 86% of people said they were very likely to get it when it's available to them and a lot of people said they want to get it a community site," said Dr. Carina Marquez, UCSF's Infectious disease specialist.
On Monday, State Senator Scott Wiener praising their efforts.
"It is a model for the country about what community engagement is," said Senator Wiener.
VACCINE TRACKER: How California is doing, when you can get a coronavirus vaccine
Mayor London Breed announced this will be one of the multiple community hubs across the city that will vaccinate those in the first tier and 65 and older by appointment only.
"We know sadly that our Latino population which represents about 15% of San Francisco has been the hardest hit. Of the over 30,000 cases they have been about 42% of those cases. What that means is that we as a city we had to take action," said London Breed.
San Francisco has administered over 106,000 doses. Out of that number 83,557 people have been vaccinated. Meaning second doses are being held back for those second appointments.
"Right now we are following the FDA and the CDC recommendation as well as the state that everyone needs a second dose. Those doses are scheduled for this week," said Director of Health for the City and County of San Francisco, Dr. Grant Colfax.
Luz Pena: "Do you think we should get rid of the tier system of 65 and older and vaccinate as many people as possible in this neighborhood considering that this is the hotspot?"
Dr. Colfax: "Once we get more vaccines, the vaccine is very limited right now. We know that people 65 and older account for 85% of death due to COVID-19. When we get more vaccine we will move further into the tier 1B and vaccinate those essential workers."
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