I use an A7CM2, but the focus mechanism is the same. I don't trust the autofocus because it doesn't know what I want to focus on, but it's usually pretty good with people. You may want to look at your focus settings and ensure the human eye focus is turned on.
Select [Subject Recog in AF] → [On].
Select [Human], [Animal/Bird], [Animal], [Bird], [Insect], [Car/Train], or [Airplane] for [Recognition Target].
That said, I prefer to leave the autofocus set to center. I took the default focus, which is on the shutter button, and put it on the AF Button. This popular method is called rear button focus. (There are Youtube videos on this subject.)
The advantage is that I come up to your subject, quickly put the subject in the center, click the rear button focus, and the lens adjusts. I then reframe and click away until the subject changes distance, and then I click the rear button again. The advantage is that you are not refocusing every time you click the shutter.
It takes some getting used to, but it is quite effective.