Despite a recent surge in Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths in California, San Francisco is set to close its six neighborhood vaccination sites, including two sites in the Mission, by mid-February, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
The health department cited budgetary constraints and decreasing vaccine demand — just 27 percent of San Franciscans are up to date with their covid vaccines, according to city data, compared to some 70 percent when the vaccines first rolled out in 2021.
“The ending of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency in May 2023 resulted in considerably less state and federal funding. Our City also faces significant budgetary challenges in the coming year,” the health department said in a statement. “In addition, demand for the vaccine at our neighborhood sites has decreased.”
The shutdown, however, was “disappointing” to community leaders and health experts who have been operating the sites for the past two years.
“Three years we’ve been the ideal partner for DPH, with low maintenance and high results,” said Tracy Gallardo of the Latino Task Force, which has run a vaccine and testing site at 24th and Capp streets with the University of California, San Francisco, since the pandemic’s onset. The site will close Feb. 10. “It would have been nice to have had a conversation with DPH before the decision was made.”
Gallardo, for her part, said the Latino Task Force and UCSF are in talks to keep the site open through the winter, when the current surge is expected to wane. “We think there’s going to be a lot more covid cases through February and March,” she said.
While the final decision remains in the air, “I am confident [UCSF] will figure something out, at least to get us through March,” said Gallardo. UCSF managed to fund the site from private donations long before the city stepped in. The data researchers collected at the sites also helped guide the city’s covid strategy for testing and vaccinations.
Since late 2020, Unidos en Salud, an alliance between the LTF and UCSF, has been running the two COVID vaccine sites at 701 Alabama St. and 24th and Capp streets. The operators, who were originally told that the sites would run till the end of March, were caught off guard last Thursday when the health department informed them the closing date had been moved up to mid-February.
The sites have not only been places where vaccinations take place, but opportunities for low-barrier testing for HIV and diabetes. Anyone who tests positive is then linked to medical services.
“It’s like all of that work that so many people did is not being valued, is not being recognized,” Gallardo said. “I guess it’s a clear message: not needed.”
Gallardo noted that while it was true vaccination rates were down, Covid cases were up: Wastewater testing shows surges at both sewage plants in San Francisco, and hospitalizations have been steadily increasing across the city since mid-summer. Deaths, however, are down from pandemic peaks.
And, Gallardo said, neighborhood sites had been the most accessible option for many during the worst of the pandemic: The site is open on Saturdays, staff speak Spanish, “and not everybody has insurance,” but the site did not require it.
“It is going to definitely be a hardship for a lot of people that have come to know the site, that have come to depend on the services,” she added.
The last day that the Department of Public Health officers Covid vaccinations at each neighborhood site is listed below:
- 24th & Capp St. Community Site on Saturday, Feb. 10
- The Village, 1099 Sunnydale Ave. on Monday, Feb. 12
- Samoan Community Development Center, 2055 Sunnydale Ave. on Wednesday, Feb. 14
- Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, 1181 Golden Gate Ave. on Wednesday, Feb. 14
- Southeast Health Center, 2401 Keith St. on Thursday, Feb. 15
- Latino Taskforce Hub, 701 Alabama St. on Thursday, Feb. 15
The one public health intervention that actually produced noticeable and measurable results in SF, will be closed. Community health workers and groups have been critical around the country working with “marginalized” populations. So much so, Biden promised a national program of 100,000 (another covid promise which bit the dust). With barely disguised cynicism, Breed tried to shutter the service a year or so ago because she’s intent on throwing more money at the SFPD (who are not community health workers, but the billionaire boyz like them). Widespread resistance kept it open. Unidos doesn’t just do covid, as the article points out.
Emphasis: Past tense. We’re being told SF General is short handed for front line workers.
Deaths aren’t “down”, they just stopped counting. Both deaths and infections are at their highest rate since the onset of Omicron: https://www.today.com/health/news/covid-wave-2024-rcna132529
And that’s not even counting the hundreds of thousands with Long COVID or the 30+ million dead worldwide. The pandemic is NOT over, and taking away resources is making it worse (insured or not).
#MaskUp 😷 #SocialDistance ↔️ #GetVaxxed 💉 #GetBoosted 💉
More misinformation and paranoia from CSL3. Covid is endemic now. It’s never going away. There will continue to be seasonal spikes. Stay vaccinated, use common sense and act responsibly. If you’re not feeling well mask up.
Very curious why this article didn’t come up when I did a search for articles with the Mission Local tag “Pandemic.” Could you add that? Thanks!
Awful news, especially when we’re in a spike and people are still dying. Shame on SF DPH. How are people supposed to access “the tools”?
Also, so many people are becoming disabled by long covid. And so many people can’t safely access healthcare anymore, with universal masking gone, especially disabled and high-risk people. Mission Local, will you please cover these topics?
This is all wrong. Those need to be open through April (after Easter/ Passover/ spring school break which will most likely result in another covid spike). DPH needs to be contacted. PS. I went to their web page and at the bottom you are directed to 311, the general customer service center…let’s see if that works