PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Philadelphia opened its first mass vaccination clinic Friday morning at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Hall F has been transformed. There are several vaccination stations with a huge observation area of socially distanced seats where those who get the shot can sit for 15 minutes.
The city is still in the first phase of distribution, so this isn’t open to the public. Deputy Health Commissioner Dr. Caroline Johnson says those who can register are unaffiliated healthcare workers like home health aides or private practice staff.
"They usually work for an agency or some private group, but they’re still at risk because they’re contacting patients, many patients," Johnson said.
"It's very hard to find a place to send them. The hospitals have their hands full doing all their own staff. They’re not at the point where they can bring in 1,000 other people."
Right now, the plan is to vaccinate 1,200 people the first day and another 1,200 Saturday. All are registered; no walk-ins are available at this time.
After that, it’s wait and see based on the number of doses available.
This clinic is a partnership between the city and the nonprofit Philly Fighting COVID. It’s an organization of health care professionals that has been out in the community getting residents tested. It is expanding its efforts to take part in the process of getting people vaccinated.
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Officials say a shortage of vaccine continues. Earlier in the week, Farley said the city will be getting about 19,000 doses per week through the end of the month. The number is split about evenly between the Pfizer and Moderna products.
Farley said the city is getting the same amount of vaccine, per capita, as other places in the country, so the supply has not met the demand. He said if that pace continues it would take a year to vaccinate everyone in the city.
CEO Andrei Doroshin is optimistic that a lot more doses will be available in the coming months, and they’ll be able to vaccinate a lot more people here.
"We're gonna open up three more pods. The capacity is gonna be around 8,000 in a day. And then we're gonna operate this until COVID is over," he said.
"Our next site is actually going to be the stadiums and that site will have the capacity to do 20,000 people in a day."
The clinic takes patients by appointment only; no walk-ups are accepted. Vaccinations for now will be available for unaffiliated health care workers -- those who do not work for a hospital or nursing home in the city that already started to vaccinate its workers.
Health Commissioner Dr. Tom Farley says this clinic, and others that may pop up, will really help those who don’t work in a hospital or nursing home.
Earlier in the week, Farley said the city will be getting about 19,000 doses per week through the end of the month. The number is split about evenly between the Pfizer and Moderna products.
Farley said the city is getting the same amount of vaccine, per capita, as other places in the country, so the supply has not met the demand. He said if that pace continues it would take a year to vaccinate everyone in the city.