COVID 19 vaccine

SF sees major drop in vaccine supply, while Santa Clara sees bump: Here's why

ByStephanie Sierra and Chris Nguyen KGO logo

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Why vaccine supply is rising in South Bay, but dropping in SF

Two of San Francisco's mass vaccination sites only received 500 first doses combined for the entire week, compared to the 10,000 they received in prior weeks. Meanwhile, supply is increasing for parts of the South Bay.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Vaccine supply is dropping yet again in San Francisco. Compared to early April, the city is bracing for a 38% drop in doses this week.

Two of the city's mass vaccination sites, at San Francisco City College and in Mission Bay, only received 500 first doses combined for the entire week. That's one-tenth of their regular supply.

"A couple Saturdays ago, we did over 5,000 vaccines in less than 8 hours at our mega site at city college site," said Desi Kotis, chief pharmacy executive for UCSF. "We almost received no vaccine this week."

This is the third consecutive week the city is seeing reduced supply. In the past two weeks, the city has received about 10,000 doses each week. In the Bay Area, only Solano County has seen a larger drop in doses.

According to Kotis, San Francisco isn't receiving as much supply from Blue Shield due to the high percentage of people already vaccinated. To help boost supply, the city is working with the federal government to try and secure more doses.

VIDEO: Santa Clara County doubles down on vaccine efforts

With more supply from the federal government, Santa Clara County officials are doubling down on their efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible. This includes underserved communities that may be having a tough time with securing vaccine appointments.

Santa Clara County is a bit better off this week, thanks in part to a larger share of supply from the federal government. The county was able to make a few thousand more appointments available this week.

They're racing to get hard-hit communities like East San Jose vaccinated as quickly as possible and going door-to-door to spread the word.

Santa Clara County expects to have a high vaccine acceptance rate. The Department of Health and Human Services said a recent survey found only about 10% of people are hesitant to get the shot.

VACCINE TRACKER: Here's how CA is doing, when you can get a coronavirus vaccine

Santa Clara has about one-third of its over-16 population fully vaccinated already.

San Francisco is aiming to have 85% of the over-16 population vaccinated with at least one dose by mid-May and fully vaccinated by mid-June. As of Tuesday, the city is at 63% with at least one dose.

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