The latest Covid-19 vaccines will be available, free, at two community health sites run by the Latino Task Force later this week.
Those 12 and older can receive both covid and flu shots at 701 Alabama St. this Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and at Unidos en Salud at 24th and Capp streets this Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Both sites will be open during those hours weekly.
The sites are only providing Moderna vaccines for now. Both are awaiting shipments of Pfizer doses, and doses of both vaccines for those between 6 months and 12 years old, according to Diane Jones, a leader at the Unidos en Salud site.
Vaccines are also available at pharmacies, clinics and health care providers across San Francisco.
The updated vaccines are from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna following authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in September.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone 6 months and older should get updated Covid-19 and flu vaccines. Those who have recently received a covid vaccine should wait at least two months before getting the updated one, according to the CDC.
The updated covid vaccines are free for everyone, and health insurance is not required for vaccination at community health sites. People can either walk in or make an appointment through the Latino Task Force’s website.
Despite a continuing surge of cases, Jones said she is worried about a low turnout, citing the low vaccination rate for the previous omicron boosters.
“Hopefully, the recent surge would be an incentive for people to get the new shot,” she said.
The updated vaccines are expected to protect people against hospitalization and death from the latest covid strain, and also reduce the risk of long covid, according to CDC and San Francisco Department of Public Health.
The 24th and Capp testing and vaccination site had previously extended its hours amid the recent covid surge in San Francisco, and Jones said the site has a “formula” that allows them to adjust hours based on the volume of demand.
Visit the federal government’s vaccine website to find more locations that provide covid boosters.
Hopefully they will be able to remain open and have sufficient supply — after reading an earlier Mission Local article about these ‘extended hours’, I tried to go to the 24th and Capp location last weekend and it was shut, without so much as a note explaining the early closure – at 4pm on a Friday