California uses outreach, ZIP codes to boost vaccine equity
By Janie Har and Amy Taxin
Published article
A general view of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex, Monday, Sept. 28, 2020, in Oakland, Calif. The stadium is the home of the Oakland Athletics and the Oakland Raiders from 1966-81 and 1995-2019. The arena served as the home of the Golden
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SAN FRANCISCO - Hing Yiu Chung lives in a racially diverse San Francisco neighborhood hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. While vaccines have been difficult to come by, the 69-year-old got one by showing proof she lives where she does.
She had to wait in line for two hours with other seniors, some who were disabled or leaning on canes, for a chance at a couple hundred shots available each day through a local public health clinic in the Bayview neighborhood.
February 1, 2021
With the smell of burning sage in the air, the city s first community vaccination site opened today at 9 a.m. in the heart of the Mission District, just off 24th and Mission streets in a rectangular, fenced-in parking lot cleared of cars, planted with four large white tents and staffed with technicians and nurses ready to vaccinate in a community that has had some of the city s highest rates of Covid-19 cases.
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The opening was a triumph of UCSF and the Latino Task Force as well as the Department of Public Health, which will eventually take over the site and open in other impacted communities, first in Bayview and then in other neighborhoods, according to DPH.
At those sites, UCSF doctors tested thousands in the neighborhood and answered questions about the vaccine. About 86% of people said they were very likely to get it when it s available to them and a lot of people said they want to get it a community site, said Dr. Carina Marquez, UCSF s Infectious disease specialist.
On Monday, State Senator Scott Wiener praising their efforts. It is a model for the country about what community engagement is, said Senator Wiener.
Mayor London Breed announced this will be one of the multiple community hubs across the city that will vaccinate those in the first tier and 65 and older by appointment only.