Many unhoused residents of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood dropped into a Thanksgiving celebration at the local non-profit, GLIDE, on Thursday, where they could eat free turkey dinners - with a side of booster shots.
The event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside the GLIDE Memorial Church on the 300 block of Ellis St., had music, free meals and a rolling cart filled with vaccines. The Thanksgiving-day event presented a great opportunity for the roving teams of UCSF clinicians that have been working in the neighborhood every Thursday for months offering on-the-spot shots.
"Now that the community’s known us and built a trust with us since May, really, the boosters, people are seeking us out," UCSF Clinical Nurse Erin Carrera told KCBS Radio. "So, it’s a very educated community here, as far as COVID vaccinations go."
Those shots are even more important in a community where many people are at high risk for COVID and often don’t have a fixed address or traditional channels of health care. Carrera said in late May, when the mobile clinic first started, the Tenderloin had one of the lowest vaccination rates in the city, but presently those numbers are as good as the rest of San Francisco.
"We’re here to commit to also helping this community get boosted the same as everybody else," she added.
Many Tenderloin residents initially got the one and done Johnson & Johnson vaccine and it’s recommended they get a second shot after two months.
Local Supervisor Matt Haney said a street party is a great place to find those people and follow up.
"It’s really critical that we saw folks walking the streets on days like today where a lot of our neighborhood is out and about," he told KCBS Radio.
"They’re here at GLIDE, they’re (here) at St. Anthony's, they’re getting food, they’re getting care packages. And they should also get protected and get vaccinated or get a booster, if they need one."
"Because we have a lot of people who are unhoused, who have housing insecurity, the J&J vaccine was used very heavily here in the neighborhood. So, that means we have to double down on the effort to get people boosters," he continued.
Thursday's celebration is just one of many holiday events hosted by GLIDE this year. To learn more about upcoming events in their community, please visit their website.
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