January 08, 2021
The city has ended its partnership with Philly Fighting COVID. Philly residents can use the city's official registration page to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine. People who register will be contacted by the city's health department when they become eligible to schedule an appointment.
Philadelphia has opened a massive COVID-19 vaccination center that has the capability to inoculate as many as 4,500 people per day.
The site, located at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, currently is serving health care workers — particularly those who visit patients in their homes. But it is expected to remain open as eligibility expands to other groups.
Philly residents now can pre-register for a COVID-19 vaccine. The city partnered with Philly Fighting COVID to establish the center and launch a website for people to sign up for vaccines. By pre-registering, residents will be notified when they are eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine.
To sign up, residents should select "Pre-Commitment for a Vaccination." There, they must input their birth dates, professions, zip codes and household sizes. Residents then will receive a confirmation email informing them of their priority level.
Pre-registration does not set up an appointment, nor does it establish a place in line. But residents will be notified when they become eligible to get vaccinated. The information provided will help city officials determine where other vaccination centers should be located.
People who have appointments to get vaccinated at the Convention Center will pass through four stages of the clinic:
• Check In: Residents are instructed to arrive no more than five minutes before their appointment. They will then pass through security and temperature screenings.
• Inoculation: Residents will be given a private area for inoculation, where two staff members will provide oversight. The vaccine will be administered by a registered nurse.
• Observation: Medical technicians monitor residents for at least 15 minutes for any negative reactions to the vaccine. Anyone who has an adverse reaction will be taken to an extended observation area where Emergency Medical Staffers are on hand to provide transportation to a hospital, if necessary.
• Release: If no reaction is observed, residents will be released. The entire process is estimated to take 30 minutes.
Vaccinations at the site will be given free of charge.
Only residents included in Phase 1a of Philly's vaccine rollout currently are eligible for vaccination. That includes health care workers and residents and staffers of long-term care facilities.
The next group to become eligible will be critical infrastructure workers, which include teachers and public transit workers. Congregate care residents, seniors and people with underlying medical conditions will follow in that order. Then vaccinations open up to everyone else.
Philly officials say the new vaccination center may help expedite the rollout.
The city only has administered about 40% of its allocated vaccines so far. But that's still better than the national rate. According to Bloomberg's COVID-19 vaccine tracker, about 29% of the distributed shots have been given as of Thursday.
Still, vaccine supply may still remain a major issue.
At the current vaccination rate, it will take more than more than 12 months to vaccinate the city's 1.6 million people, Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said earlier this week. The city is receiving about 20,000 vaccines each week through January.
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