In San Francisco, a new rise in COVID-19 cases has triggered a renewed effort to get the vaccine to some of the city’s most hesitate residents.
The message was serious from city officials on Thursday as coronavirus cases are rising in San Francisco again and nearly everyone who is now ending up in the hospital is unvaccinated.
Officials held a news conference outside the Southeast Health Center In The Bayview District Thursday.
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed cheered San Francisco’s overall high vaccination rate. But she also noted that vaccinate rate isn't nearly as good among the city's minority communities.
“We’re doing a great job but with this new delta variant we’re seeing real concerns and those concerns impact especially the African American community and the Latino community,” she said.
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Breed also talked about finding ways to address the vaccine hesitancy and historical concerns about all vaccines in the African American community.
“Every person that is in the hospital in San Francisco general right now did not get the vaccine and disproportionately most of those people are African American,” said it.
Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s Director of Public Health also talked about the increases of COVID-19 cases in the city.
“In the last 12 days alone, we have seen a threefold increase in COVID-19 cases in San Francisco. This rapid increase is due to the delta variant the delta variant is COVID-19 on steroids,” he said.
While mass vaccination sites have closed, vaccines are still relatively easy to find - in the city’s Bayview neighborhood. the Southeast Health Center offers them and they are always free.
“I was one of those people who is kind of scared I was scared to get this done skeptical,” said Tianna Hicks.
Hicks was among those who came out to support the vaccine effort Thursday. Her son Najee Harris plays football for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“How do you feel that you have it? I’m relieved cause I really I know this is the right thing to do,” she said.
