Limited vaccine supply forces one week closure of Moscone Center mass vaccination site

SAN FRANCISCO - The mass vaccination site recently rolled out at San Francisco's Moscone Center will close for one week due to a shortage in vaccine supply, according to a statement issued Sunday by the San Francisco Department of Public Health. 

The pause on vaccines at the Moscone Center goes from Monday February 15 until February 22. No vaccine appointments were canceled or rescheduled, and there's currently enough supply for those awaiting their second dose, according to DPH.

San Francisco's Mayor London Breed tweeted Sunday that she's frustrated that despite the available infrstructure for mass vaccinations, "supply from the state and federal government isn't keeping up."

"I know Mayor Breed is doing the best she can, I have no doubts," Christiane Medina, 60, who waited outside the Moscone Center on Sunday with dozens of others on a waitlist, hopeful to get a spare dose. "We just need more," Medina said.

Breed led California's Governor Gavin Newsom on a tour of the Moscone Center on Friday. Newsom shifted blame for low vaccine supply to the federal level.

"The lack of capacity that you see here every day in terms of total numbers of people coming in versus those that could otherwise come in, t's constrained by one thing now," Newsom said. "Simply supply, federal supply."

The site opened on Friday Feb. 5, just ten days ago, and is credited for helping to vaccinate nearly half of all San Francisco residents over the age of 65.

DPH says that the city's supply of the coronavirus vaccine, which is currently at 262,000 doses, has mostly been used up. 190,000 of those doses have been administered, as of Friday night.

The remaining 72,000 doses are being kept for appointments that have already been scheduled, which include both first and second doses.

At the City College mass vaccination site, the department is also suspending vaccinations but says they're aiming to resume administering second doses only on Friday.

The Moscone Center mass vaccination site is being operated in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, Adventist Health, CA Medical Association, Dignity Health, Futuro Health, and the California Primary Care Association.

The department says they need to vaccinate 760,000 residents over the age of 16, which will require over 1.5 million doses.

On average this past week, the city has administered 7,400 doses per day. City officials say they're equipped to administer over 10,000 doses per day, but vaccine supply isn't sufficient. 

Cal Poly Pomona, Dodger stadium, and a handful of other vaccination sites in southern California also temporarily paused vaccinations due to low supply.

Kaiser Permanente partners with the Moscone Center and other mass vaccination hubs in administering the vaccine.

A spokesperson for the health care provider said in a statement to KTVU, "like all vaccine providers, we expect supply may continue to be a challenge in the coming weeks, which will require us to be flexible with our operations. We are committed to continuing to work through the vaccine supply challenges in order to vaccinate as many people as possible."