SF General hopes to administer 4,000 monkeypox doses this week

SAN FRANCISCO - The effort to contain the monkeypox virus continues as San Francisco General Hospital's vaccine clinic reopened Monday, where medical staff hope to administer 4,000 doses this week.  

Some people lined up as early as 3 a.m., in a city that has seen more than 300 cases of monkeypox.

According to California's Department of Public Health, the state will soon receive 72,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, and a large portion of that will be given to San Francisco.

By 2:30 p.m. the city's health department tweeted that the vaccine clinic was closed for the day and that they administered 950 doses, their highest amount in a single day. They had previously topped out at around 500 to 600 doses in a single day. 

San Francisco and Los Angeles account for ⅔ of the state's total monkeypox count.

State Sen. Scott Wiener is among the local leaders calling for a state and national public health emergency. 

"The state is acting with a significant sense of urgency with the monkeypox outbreak," Wiener said. "I am on the phone regularly with senior state health officials, and we are working also on an emergency budget appropriation to support county efforts to expand testing and vaccination and education and outreach." 

SEE ALSO: Monkeypox not yet declared statewide medical emergency

San Francisco Mayor London Breed declared a local public health emergency starting on Monday.

But before any additional resources or funding are shifted to help expand the effort against monkeypox, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors need to meet to discuss the resolution.

The vaccine clinic will be open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to noon, or until supplies are exhausted.