City officials in San Francisco on Wednesday announced a new COVID-19 vaccination site offering low-barrier access in the city’s Excelsior District.
The new site at 20 Norton St. is part of a larger effort by the city to bring the vaccine to some of the city’s communities that face is the biggest disparities, including access to adequate health care.
Under the effort, the city has provided vaccine access to historically underserved areas like the Mission, Bayview, Chinatown, Visitacion Valley, Treasure Island and Chinatown.
The Excelsior — home to many Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander San Franciscans — has seen some of the highest rates of COVID-19. And while 50 percent of the neighborhood’s eligible population has already been vaccinated, testing continues to show high rates among Latinos, who are facing two and a half times higher positivity rates than the general public, city officials said.
The new site will operate on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and from noon to 6 p.m. on Fridays.
Because vaccine doses remain limited, the new site will initially only have capacity to give out 150 doses daily by appointment only, city officials said.
“We’re proud to work with leaders in the Excelsior to bring this site to a neighborhood that has been hard-hit by this virus,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement. “We’re making good progress getting COVID-19 vaccines to people throughout San Francisco, and this new site is part of a broader strategy to reach people where they live. We now have the capacity to vaccinate 20,000 people per day in San Francisco, and we’re prepared to administer those vaccines as quickly as we get the supply.”
“This site is the next step in that collaborative work as we offer vaccines to community members who need it most,” District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safai said.
San Francisco Department of Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax said, “We hope that this site brings a level of comfort and convenience that encourages members of the Excelsior community to get vaccinated as soon as possible so that we can continue to reopen our city and resume the activities we love.”
The new site’s launch comes just as the city announced that over 50 percent of all residents over 16 years old have received at least one dose of the vaccine. More than 30 percent of residents have been fully vaccinated.