COVID: Moscone Center Vaccination Site Closes; Doctors Reassure Vaccinated Amid Rising Delta Variant
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – As San Francisco closes its largest mass COVID-19 vaccination site at Moscone Center, concerns are being raised about cases of the Delta variant rising, largely among the unvaccinated.
One hundred sixty days and just about 333,700 shots later, it's time for this building to resume hosting conventions.
"So, we did a lot of volume," says Ellie Schafer, high-volume vaccine coordinator for San Francisco. "That's what we needed to do. That's how we got to 76% of San Francisco fully vaccinated, one of the highest rates in the world."
Beyond Moscone, getting vaccinated in San Francisco is almost impossibly easy now. There are single intersections in the city with multiple options.
"Almost everybody I know is vaccinated," says Joe Mac. "Which thrills me."
That 76% of city residents are fully vaccinated, you'll find similar numbers around the Bay Area, and for anyone who falls into that category, here is some reassuring news.
"The data in the US points to the fact that 99% of all of the cases occurring in the US right now, certainly hospitalizations and deaths, are among unvaccinated people," explains Dr. Bonnie Maldonado at the Stanford School of Medicine.
In California, the state's positivity rate is on the rise. This time last month, on the verge of the state's reopening, it was at 0.8%. Around July 4, it went up to 1.8% and as of Wednesday it reached 3%.
Meanwhile, some parts of the country with low vaccination rates - Arkansas, Missouri, for example - are paying the price.
"These are places that didn't have huge surges, they don't have a lot of natural immunity and they have the Delta variant, and they have low rates of vaccinations," says UCSF Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Monica Gandhi. "That's where you are seeing the super surges. What are we seeing here in the Bay Area? We're seeing a slight uptick of hospitalizations, and they are all among the unvaccinated."
That vaccine divide might raise a concern back here.
"Mayor London Breed it's not gonna like what I'm going to say here," Mac laughs. "But I'm worried about tourists coming into San Francisco that haven't been vaccinated from those areas of the country"
For anyone worried about that, there is some more reassuring news, and more reason to get vaccinated.
"It's really important for us to keep on stressing to those who are vaccinated that you are safe from the Delta variant," Gandhi says. "It's likely that you're safe if you've had natural infection as well."
