Eligible Phase 1B people in Philadelphia can get the coronavirus vaccine at a mass clinic from Feb. 22, the city announced Tuesday while warning those who went further back in the rule that the current phase could take weeks.
The city’s health department will operate three first-dose clinics and three two-dose clinics a week, with the aim of vaccinating about 500 patients a day, said Dr. Health Commissioner Thomas Farley told reporters.
The health department will contact people and ask them to make their appointment. It will appear on the list of eligible people in Phase 1B who completed the vaccine interest application form at phila.gov/vaccineinterest. People without reliable internet access or computer skills can be contacted via the city’s COVID call center at 215-685-5488.
To be eligible for the Philly Phase 1B vaccine from February 2, people must fit into one of the following groups:
- Over the age of 75;
- With certain high-risk health conditions: cancer, chronic kidney disease, or a recent organ transplant;
- Frontline essential workers such as prison staff, first responders and service providers working with vulnerable people.
Farley is waiting for more details after President Joe Biden announced that the federal government would expand the transfer of vaccines to pharmacies. It is not clear how many doses Philly will still receive, but it will contribute to the current allocation of 20,000 Pfizer and Moderna doses each week.
Those newly announced extra doses will go to Rite Aid and Shop Rite pharmacies. The city will be eligible for persons who have reported the vaccination form and will refer them to the appointments of the pharmacies as soon as they are available.
Vaccination of Philly fight against COVID patients
The city is also tying loose ends after cutting ties with a vaccine provider whose practice has raised questions. Acting Deputy Commissioner for Health, dr. Caroline Johnson, resigned this weekend after it came to light that she had given information about a proposal to some, but not all, applicants to administer vaccines, including Philly Fighting COVID.
The group, led by 22-year-old Drexel student Andrei Doroshin, switched to vaccinations after manufacturing PBT and operating test areas. It fired shots at about 6,700 people in the Pennsylvania Convention Center before the city closed the arrangement over concerns about patient data and a move to for-profit status.
The city’s health department will operate two-dose clinics for patients receiving their first dose of Philly Fighting COVID from Wednesday, February 3rd.
Farley said clinics will take place every day from this week until February 6th. About 2,500 people are getting their second doses at the clinic this week.
More clinics will be planned next week, and it is expected that about 4400 people will have to be vaccinated.
In a letter last week, Mayor Jim Kenney asked Farley to donate doses of Philly Fighting COVID to the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. The BDCC is receiving 2,000 doses this week and will have 2,500 doses next week. On Tuesday, Kenney moved his clinic from a church in Western Philadelphia to the Liacouras Center of Temple University.