PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Kenney administration defended its vaccine rollout at a news conference Monday, insisting that the now-ended relationship with Philly Fighting COVID was one slip up in an otherwise successful program.
Mayor Jim Kenney and Health Commissioner Tom Farley outlined steps they’re taking to repair the damage the relationship may have caused. In a separate news conference, City Council president Darrell Clarke announced legislation that would give council a stronger hand in vaccine contracts.
“I’m the first to admit that we’re not perfect,” Kenney said. “We’ve made mistakes that we all deeply regret but we are committed to doing better and restoring the public’s faith in the city’s ability to get our residents vaccinated.”
He reinforced his support for and faith in Farley, rejecting suggestions that Farley resign.
“Dr. Farley’s staying. I think he’s done a good job,” the mayor said, adding that he was sorry that Deputy Commissioner Caroline Johnson had been forced to resign for providing bidding advice to Philly Fighting COVID and the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium (BCD) for a future contract with the city to deliver vaccines.
Farley announced several measures he said he hoped would restore trust in the process. Among them:
- The Health Department has expanded its vaccine team to 50 people to compensate for the loss of Johnson, who had led the vaccine team
- The city is scrapping the previous requests for proposals for a vaccine contract and issuing a new one
- The Health Department will run its own mass clinics to assure that people who were vaccinated by PFC get their second dose. The clinics will run Wednesday through Saturday this week and are planned for Tuesday through Saturday next week
“I understand that the public is very frustrated by where we are,” Farley said. “We ask people to give us time to regain their trust and deliver the vaccine.”
The news conference came after a tumultuous week that began with the city dropping PFC after a series of missteps. The city had given the group a contract to do community-based testing but it stopped testing and went from a nonprofit to a for-profit without warning the city.
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Farley said the final straw was its stated intention to sell data entered on a web-based form inviting people to sign up for the vaccine.
The group’s 22-year-old founder, Andrei Doroshin, held a defiant news conference, during which he said he never actually intended to sell the data but admitted he had taken home four vaccine doses to administer to friends because they were left over from the clinic.
The episode marred what had otherwise been one of the more successful vaccine rollouts in the country. The city has administered more than 100,000 vaccines in six weeks, reaching more than 7% of the adult population, a higher rate than most cities and states have achieved.
Both the mayor and Farley noted that the limited vaccine supply remains the primary obstacle to getting more people vaccinated.
Council President Clarke argues that giving City Council oversight on vaccine contracts would improve the process.
“We need to be in a position to make sure that the distribution of the vaccine is done in a way that establishes a process that is transparent, that is clear, that is fair,” Clarke said. “We want to make sure that everybody understands what it is and there will be requirements.”
He and Councilmember Cindy Bass will introduce a bill at Thursday’s session that will bar the city from providing vaccine to any outside group without a contract.
The bill also lays out several requirements for awarding the contract:
- Bidders would have to submit an Economic Opportunity Plan detailing its efforts to employ a diverse workforce and subcontract with women-, minority- or disable-owned businesses
- The city would have to determine that the applicant has the requisite experience to fulfill the mission of the contract
- Clarke and council’s chief clerk would have to be notified at least two days before the contract is awarded and given information about what demographics the applicant will submit about vaccine recipients
- The demographic information and other data about the recipients would have to be posted on the city website
Bass also plans to hold a hearing Friday exploring how the city came to work with PFC. (Bass and other council members were briefed by the group in November and raised no objections. Members also attended PFC’s first mass clinic, though Bass said she didn’t realize the group was running it).
In addition, the city’s inspector general is investigating the Health Department’s relationship with PFC.