Despite weather delays, Moscone Center plans to reopen for vaccines

SAN FRANCISCO - As California reaches a milestone 7.3-million residents vaccinated, San Francisco's Moscone Center will not be reopening for vaccine appointments as scheduled.

The Moscone Center plans to resume vaccine appointments on Thursday at 11 a.m, then continue its normal daily hours starting Friday, with appointments beginning at 8 a.m. The center originally planned to resume appointments Monday, after shutting down a week prior, but pushed the reopening a few days due to winter weather delaying vaccine shipments.

"Obviously the impacts of this extreme weather have had an impact here in the state of California, as it relates to our supply," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday at a press conference at Inglewood's new FEMA-provided mobile vaccination site.

Yet Newsom appeared optimistic low vaccine supply may not be a problem for much longer, noting that he'd visited a new pop-up vaccine site in Hayward on Saturday, where teachers are being vaccinated.

"We also committed to three hundred plus thousand doses over the course of the next month for our educators," Newsom said.

He added that the state vaccination rate is on track to bring California into a completely different phase of the pandemic in just a few months.

"The next few months, more challenges more stress, but same time, visible optimism," Newsom said.

A total of 9.2 million doses have been shipped to California, and an additional million doses from the federal government went directly to California pharmacies. Costco in Novato is set to start vaccinating healthcare workers starting Friday.

The City College of San Fransisco came back open for second doses after closing for a few days due to low supply, and a new daily walk-in vaccination site opened at San Francisco General Hospital on Saturday for San Francisco residents age 65 or older.

Marirose Piciucco stood in line outside the hospital for her vaccine Saturday starting at 9 a.m. "I'm very excited," she said, "and the line is a small price to pay."