San Francisco officials said that the city’s public health department is expected to run out of its coronavirus vaccine by Thursday after its supply dropped drastically last week, and authorities were forced to throw away doses that they were not able to replace.
The city’s director of public health, Dr. Grant Colfax, announced during a news conference that last week, officials obtained 12,000 doses. When city officials asked for the same number of doses for this week, they only received 1,775 doses.
COVID-19 Vaccine
Additionally, there were about 8,000 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine that the city had to discard after some San Diego residents developed severe allergic reactions after being inoculated. Colfax noted that the thousands of doses thrown away were not replaced by the state yet.
Local health officials across California have been struggling with the process of inoculation and scheduling vaccinations due to the inconsistency of how much supply they have each week. The state has only administered an average of 2,190 per 100,000 of its residents with the treatment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that Texas, on the other hand, was able to administer 3,461 per 100,000 residents.
Another factor that worries local officials is their inability to know how many doses private medical providers are distributing across their regions. On Tuesday, San Francisco officials issued a health order that required these agencies to report the progress of their vaccination efforts to the city.
San Francisco City Mayor London Breed said that in preparation for the improvement of vaccine supply, the city is set to open up mass vaccination sites to accommodate the number of residents coming in to get inoculated.
Since the surge of the holiday season, San Francisco’s infection and hospitalization rates have begun to stabilize. However, Colfax noted that there was no guarantee when the city would be able to lift its regional stay-at-home order.
In Napa and Sonoma counties, more than 50 restaurants, including wineries and other businesses, filed a lawsuit against California State Governor Gavin Newsom for his restrictions on outdoor dining within the region, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In the lawsuit filed in Napa County Superior Court, documents wrote that Newsom’s ban on outdoor dining was “arbitrary, irrational, and unfair.” It also argued that the scientific data used to support the restriction was not accurate.
San Francisco officials urged residents to stay inside their homes on Wednesday during President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. They recommended watching the event through their televisions or other gadgets to avoid potentially spreading the COVID-19 virus.
