San Francisco receives 2,000 coronavirus vaccine doses, more on the way

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco has received 2,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax said in a brief press conference Monday.

The first batch of doses were delivered to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Monday morning, Colfax said. The city is expecting to receive roughly another 10,000 doses in the coming days.

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Health care workers are first in line to receive the new vaccine, but Colfax declined to give specifics on who will be receiving the first 2,000 vaccine doses or when that might start.

The glimmer of hope comes as San Francisco is mired in its worst coronavirus surge yet. The city is seeing an average of about 232 new COVID-19 cases per day. That's far higher than the pandemic's previous peak in July, when the city was seeing about 130 new cases a day.

Colfax pointed out, the relief of the vaccine may be too little too late.

"The hope of this vaccine will not crush this curve," he said. "With limited supply, the vaccine will not save us from this current increased concern in hospitalizations."

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Since the coronavirus started spreading across the globe in late 2019, scientists have been looking for a vaccine. Now that vaccines are proven, it will ultimately be up to each state to determine who will get the vaccine, and when?

San Francisco has voluntarily entered the regional stay-at-home order in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus and keep hospitals from filling up. As of Monday, San Francisco still had 30% of its ICU beds available, but regional ICU capacity is nearing 15%.

Colfax implored people to stay home as much as possible and avoid travel or holiday gatherings.

"We have more San Franciscans suffering today from COVID-19 than we ever had before," Colfax said. "It doesn't appear this downward trend will be changing anytime soon."

INTERACTIVE: Here's the shutdown status of every Bay Area county

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