Saturday afternoon, Code Tenderloin — a local non-profit organization dedicated to helping employ disadvantaged San Franciscans in long-term positions — and UCSF staffers went around the Tenderloin, inoculating those wanting a single-dose shot against COVID-19.
Over 80% of eligible San Francisco residents have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; it's a startling milestone, considering where the city was just fourteen months ago. Since the start of the pandemic, San Francisco has existed as a model for how large metropolitans should effectively handle COVID-19. The city's vaccine rollout still remains one of the smoothest, most accessible of any kind in the United States — a sentiment perfectly reflected this weekend when healthcare professionals, nonprofit staff, and city officials convened in the Tenderloin to offer residents of the neighborhood single-dose COVID-19 vaccines.
Walking the street with Code Tenderloin and UCSF, canvassing the neighborhood, vaccinating people in 5 min or less.
— Matt Haney (@MattHaneySF) June 12, 2021
People ask how we are going to reach the remaining people who still need to be vaccinated...this is how. pic.twitter.com/K5gfd13bIF
"This is our 'mobile vaccination' team," District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney tweeted in a thread dedicated to Saturday's mobile vaccination effort in the Tenderloin. "Literally walking the street stopping people asking if they are vaccinated yet and vaccinating them within 5 minutes right there."
It's J&J. One and done.
— Matt Haney (@MattHaneySF) June 12, 2021
Modern-day mass vaccination sites, while essential for serving large swaths of bipeds, are often designated for those who have a reliable means of transportation and are computer literate. For vulnerable residents of San Francisco's Tenderloin — an area often synonymous with the city's homelessness epidemic — mobilization efforts are crucial. By inoculating those who aren't able to utilize more traditional vaccination routes, San Francisco is simultaneously safeguarding at-risk populations and helping the city inch ever closer toward herd immunity.
To make this weekend vaccination effort in the Tenderloin more efficient, J&J vaccines were used; unlike those from Pfizer and Moderna, which require a series of doses to be completely effective, this single-dose vaccine doesn't necessitate further appointment scheduling; it's a "one-and-done" kind of deal.
@codetenderloin is such an incredible org, they are really doing the work every day 😍😍 https://t.co/txLdImpIo3
— keith kurson (@keithkurson) June 12, 2021
Haney noted that while some individuals who reached out for vaccines were homeless, it was a "door to door, block by block" effort.
"It works," the District Supervisor said, capping his Twitter thread on the mobile effort. Indeed: these types of on-the-ground vaccine pushes do, in fact, work (and rather well).
For information on San Francisco's current roster of COVID-19 vaccination sites, most of which are now accepting both drop-ins and appointments, visit sf.gov/vaccine-sites.
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Image: Twitter via @MattHaneySF