Free dog vaccination clinic in SF to help slow down spread of highly-contagious parvovirus

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The San Francisco SPCA is hosting a free dog vaccination clinic on Monday.

It’s the second such clinic within a few weeks, to help slow down a parvovirus outbreak in the Tenderloin.

It’s happening from noon to 2 p.m. in the Tenderloin at the Golden Gate Greenway at St. Anthony’s in the 100 block of Golden Gate Avenue.

“This time around, we’re going to be doing another booster of parvo vaccines, all the same preventives and we’re adding in rabies vaccines,” Jessica Bogosian, the SF SPCA Director of Community Medicine Operations said.

“Those are usually pretty crucial for people to secure housing and so really important that we bring that out today as well.”

Last month, at their first clinic, they were able to serve 76 dogs.

SPCA, Animal Care and Control and Saint Anthony’s Foundation have teamed up once again to administer the shots in the Tenderloin.

Experts at SPCA say parvo is a highly contagious viral infection that affects dogs.

It can be fatal, but it is also largely preventable.

“Prevention is key, getting vaccinations starting at 6 to 8 weeks old going all the way up until they’re 16 weeks old, so those puppies can have good strong immunity, and then every year after, that’ll help you out,” Bogosian said.

While Monday’s clinic is focused on booster shots, they’ll also be there offering preventative services for up to 200 other four-legged friends.

“We’re going to be offering kind of a total package of preventative services like topical medication to help prevent fleas, administering an oral de-wormer medication in case pets have any intestinal parasites, we’re going to be implanting microchips,” Bogosian said.