Health care workers and adults older than 65 are among thousands of local residents who are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in a trial run at a San Francisco International Airport parking garage.
The County of San Mateo and SFO are partnering on the four-day pilot program, which began on Friday, February 12, and ends this coming Friday, and continues to administer COVID-19 vaccines to County residents who are eligible under the state’s tier system. The drive-through event is a test to see if the Airport’s long-term parking garage is suitable as a mass-vaccination site for the Peninsula.
There are no walk-up (or fly-in) appointments and only San Mateo County residents are eligible. To check for available slots and register, visit smchealth.org/sfo65.
“We’ve got to get shots in arms, and SFO is the perfect location to stage this mass vaccination effort by the County,” said Board of Supervisors President David J. Canepa. “We need to end COVID and partnering with SFO will allow us to do just that. If this pilot proves successful, as I’m sure it will, it will allow us to scale up the operation at one of the nation’s greatest airports as more of the vaccine becomes available. I couldn’t be prouder of the many County and SFO staff who worked so hard to make this possible.”
“We are proud to partner with San Mateo County Health to support the ongoing distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine,” said SFO Airport Director Ivar C. Satero. “Defeating this pandemic requires collaboration across multiple agencies, and we hope to be a vital resource to our health officials.”
How it works
SFO Long-Term Parking is comprised of two multi-level parking garages along with a surface lot. In preparation for this pilot program, the Airport has converted one of the multi-level garages, which has a capacity of 3,109 spaces, to serve as a drive-through vaccination facility. Three of the seven levels of the garage will be utilized for this pilot program, with the potential of three additional levels coming online for future vaccination efforts.
