San Francisco health leader says vaccine doses will not stop current COVID surge

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in California got off to a slow start as the state reached yet another critical point in the fight against the virus. 

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the federal government purchased the vaccine doses and is only distributing them through established networks of states and health care providers. 

 "The vaccine rollout is a lot bigger than the city and the [San Francisco] Department of Public Health," Breed said. "But we do have a role to play." 

City health officials are responsible for disseminating the doses to city-run facilities such as Laguna Honda Hospital, where vaccinations have already begun. 

The COVID-19 vaccines mark a moment of hope, but challenging days are still ahead, health experts have repeatedly warned. 

"We need to increase the rate at which we are able to deliver the vaccine to people, said executive vice president of physician services at UCSF Health, Dr. Adler. He said that's beginning to happen at his hospital. Currently, UCSF is able to vaccinate up to 1,100 people each day and working to increase that number.

The effort to speed up vaccinations is encouraging, but San Francisco public health leader Dr. Grant Colfax said it will have little impact on the city's current surge or the anticipated post-holiday spike.

"We remain in a serious and critical position," Colfax said. Later adding," At this time we don't know the full impact of the December holidays and it is plausible we can see a sharp increase in cases followed by hospitalizations in the next few weeks."

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