Philadelphia’s Phase 1B eligible people could get the coronavirus vaccine at a mass clinic beginning Feb. 22, the city said Tuesday, warning those further down the line that the current phase could take weeks.
The city’s health department will run three primary-dose clinics and three secondary-dose clinics a week to vaccinate about 500 patients a day, health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley told reporters.
The health department will contact people and ask them to make an appointment. It will go down the list of eligible Phase 1B people who have completed the vaccine interest registration form at phila.gov/vaccineinterest. People without reliable internet access or computer skills can register through the city’s COVID Call Center at 215-685-5488.
To be eligible for the Philly Phase 1B vaccine starting February 2, people should fall into one of the following groups:
- Over 75 years;
- With certain high-risk health conditions: cancer, chronic kidney disease or a recent organ transplant;
- Essential frontline workers, such as prison staff, first responders and service providers working with vulnerable people.
Farley was waiting for more details after President Joe Biden announced that the federal government would extend supplies of vaccine doses to pharmacies. It is unclear how many doses Philly will receive, but it would add to the city’s current allocation of 20,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna each week.
These recently announced additional doses will go to Rite Aid and Shop Rite pharmacies. The city will contact eligible people – who have signed up on the vaccine interest form – and direct them to pharmacy meeting slots as they become available.
Vaccination Philly Fighting COVID Patients
The city is also turning a blind eye after cutting ties with a vaccine provider whose practices have raised questions. Deputy Health Commissioner Dr. Caroline Johnson resigned this weekend after it was revealed that she had given information about a proposal to some, but not all, applicants to administer doses of vaccine, including Philly Fighting COVID.
The group, led by 22-year-old Dreixel-class student Andrei Doroshin, moved to vaccinations after making PPE and running test sites. He fired at about 6,700 people at the Pennsylvania Convention Center before the city shut down the arrangement over concerns about patient data and the transition to profit status.
Starting Wednesday, February 3, the city’s health department will run second-dose clinics for patients who received their first dose of Philly Fighting COVID.
Farley said the clinics will be held every day this week until Feb. 6. About 2,500 people will receive the second dose at this clinic this week.
More clinics will be scheduled for next week and approximately 4,400 people are expected to be vaccinated.
In a letter last week, Mayor Jim Kenney asked Farley to give doses that would have reached Philly Fighting COVID to the Black Doctors Consortium COVID-19. BDCC is receiving 2,000 doses this week and will have 2,500 next week. He moved his clinic Tuesday from a church in western Philadelphia to Liacouras Center at Temple University because of the snow, Kenney said.