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UCSF Expands Vaccination Effort in Partnership with Metropolis of San Francisco

Terry Hill (right) receives her first dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Patrick Sorensen, RN, a nurse at UCSF Medical Center, at a San Francisco vaccination transit clinic offered by UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health at City College . Photo by Susan Merrell

As the COVID-19 vaccine supply increases, UC San Francisco is expanding its vaccination efforts to include the most vulnerable – the elderly and community health workers.

Since the first batch of vaccine was shipped in mid-December, UCSF teams have worked diligently to vaccinate UCSF staff and learners by giving those at the highest risk of contracting the virus while on-site.

The implementation of this complex, multi-phase vaccination program required a tremendous amount of team effort, while vaccine doses were administered for several days and uncertainty about future deliveries was uncertain. The multidisciplinary team meets daily to assess current vaccine supplies and decide who will be included in future rounds of vaccination based on state and federal guidelines

UCSF leaders emphasize that all members of the UCSF community will have the opportunity to get vaccinated in the coming months. All faculties, staff, students, and patients are encouraged to get vaccinated when it’s their turn. It is important that everyone continues to follow public health instructions such as: B. wearing face covering, washing hands, maintaining physical distance, and completing daily health screening before coming to campus.

To date, UCSF has offered vaccination appointments to more than 21,600 employees and learners whose on-site duties pose a high risk of exposure to COVID-19. Almost 18,000 of them have received their first dose, and almost 16,500 have their second scheduled. It has also vaccinated more than 6,300 patients, starting at age 75 and above. In total, it delivered nearly 35,000 vaccines in the first six weeks of vaccination. So far, UCSF has seen very few side effects in its vaccination program.

Woman sits in the vaccination clinic in the Rutter Center of the UCSF

Truc Nguyen (far left), RN, and Rossana Segovia (far right), NP, speak to Karen Whalen, a retired parole officer in the San Francisco adult probation department, to make sure she doesn’t get any after the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination Has symptoms at the vaccination center at UCSF’s William J. Rutter Center on UCSF’s Mission Bay campus. Photo by Susan Merrell

UCSF has responded to an urgent request from the city for help in vaccinating the estimated 88,000 frontline health workers who are not affiliated with a medical center, e.g. B. Dentists, paramedics, and home health workers. To date, UCSF has vaccinated more than 1,380 of these members who are listed in the Centers’ first priority for Disease Control and Prevention, along with UCSF staff and patients.

“Our vaccinations have resumed rapidly,” said Josh Adler, chief clinical officer of UCSF Health, in a message to the UCSF community. “As we continue to schedule vaccinations for the rest of our workforce and learners at the highest risk of exposure, we have begun inviting additional staff and our patients by age group in accordance with state guidelines.”

The latest developments in UCSF’s ongoing vaccination program include:

  • This week, the vaccination site on the Mission Bay campus was moved from Mission Hall to the Rutter Center to allow UCSF to increase the number of vaccine doses administered from about 600 to more than 1,000 per day and improve the experience for patients.
  • At the vaccination site on the Parnassus Heights campus, UCSF will deliver the vaccine to employees, learners and healthcare workers.
  • And on January 22nd, UCSF partnered with the City of San Francisco to open the city’s first high-volume, drive-through vaccination facility at the City College of San Francisco (CCSF).

Partnership with the city

In the four days since the CCSF site opened, UCSF clinicians and staff have administered more than 3,000 vaccines to elderly members of the community, 80 percent of whom live in the city, including about 60 percent who are not UCSF patients. This website is vaccinated on 1,000 patients per day and aims to reach 3,000 people per day as the vaccine supply increases. Currently, anyone 75 years of age or older who is either a UCSF patient or a San Francisco resident can schedule vaccination with CCSF.

“With the launch of this mass vaccination program, Mayor Breed and the San Francisco Department of Health are taking on the critical leadership that has made the city a model for fighting the pandemic,” UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood told MBBS. “As our community waits for vaccine supplies to become more widely available, UCSF stands ready to assist San Francisco in vaccinating the city’s residents, with an initial focus on those most susceptible to the disease.”

With the launch of this mass vaccination program, Mayor Breed and the San Francisco Department of Health are taking on the crucial leadership role that has made the city a model for fighting the pandemic.

UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS

The goal of UCSF and the city’s vaccination effort is to vaccinate as many people as possible, depending on the availability of vaccines. To this end, we are looking for volunteers who can help at both the CCSF site and the UCSF campus in Mission Bay and Parnassus Heights.

While some have questioned why those living outside the city were vaccinated in front of San Francisco residents, public health officials point out that the virus knows no geographic boundaries when people travel across the Bay Area. The initial online registration system for vaccinations with CCSF allowed non-San Francisco residents to schedule an appointment. However, the city plans to introduce a new online system for city residents only. Public health officials agree that it is advisable to vaccinate as many people as possible to combat this one-off public health crisis.

Josh Adler gives Mayor London Breed and SFDPH Director Grant Colfax a tour of the City College vaccination center

Josh Adler (far right), MD, Executive Vice President of Medical Services at UCSF Health, gives Mayor London Breed (second from left) and Grant Colfax (far left) a tour of the COVID-19 vaccination center at City College, San Francisco. , MD, the director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Photo by Susan Merrell

“The opening of the City College site marks an important milestone in our mass vaccination effort that will in time end this terrible pandemic,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of the San Francisco Department of Health Mayor’s press release. “While vaccine supplies in San Francisco remain extremely limited, this site and the other high volume vaccine sites opening in the coming weeks will provide the physical space, medical staff and logistical processes to efficiently deliver the vaccine when it is available it will be available. ”

Adler recognizes that the inconsistent and inadequate supply of vaccines across the country and the Bay Area can be frustrating, but is optimistic about the national vaccination strategy announced by President Joseph Biden. “With a greater federal focus on COVID-19 management and vaccines, we hope the supply becomes more stable and the spread increases,” he said.

“Enormous vaccination effort”

While the first day of vaccination at CCSF began on a cold and rainy day, with the arrival of sunshine, the weather warmed and lifted the spirits of those who worked outdoors.

More than 60 UCSF Health clinicians and staff participated in the effort, including Susan Pappas, General Manager of the UCSF Health Experience Excellence Division. She drove up and down in a golf cart, delivering bottles of vaccine to the tents in the CCSF parking lot.

For Pappas, the experience was on the verge of happy tears with the thought that this “enormous vaccination effort could be the beginning of the end of this devastating pandemic”.

“I can tell you with confidence that all of our hearts were warm after we had the opportunity to attend,” said Pappas. “The team performance was efficient, exhilarating and simply excellent. It has been so rewarding to work with colleagues who have carried the burden of this COVID pandemic over the past year and to see their excitement part of something so positive. “

The team at the city’s first major vaccination site also included Adler, who provided medical assistance and answered a flurry of questions from news reporters, as well as Kim Murphy, director of the UCSF Health Administration, and Wayne Little, RN, director of perioperative patient care, both of whom Site director served.

Many patients thanked UCSF for responding to the challenge and for running the drive-through vaccination center at short notice. A woman from San Rafael was literally dancing a stencil in the parking lot and was so excited to receive the vaccine.

Another patient, who preferred to remain anonymous, told staff how grateful she was to the UCSF team involved in the effort. “I received my first dose of the COVID vaccine at CCSF today after receiving an invitation yesterday to make the appointment,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect as people on the news were having all sorts of problems with the vaccination passages, but for me this passage was unexpectedly easy. I arrived about 15 minutes early and got vaccinated quickly. It was top notch. “

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