PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — U.S. Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine visited the Center City FEMA vaccination site Thursday afternoon to mark the health milestones of the Biden administration’s first 100 days.
The U.S. has well surpassed its vaccination goals to date, but vaccine supply is now outpacing demand. While Levine — the former health secretary of Pennsylvania — said a robust vaccine supply is a victory, many more people still need to get vaccinated.
A majority of older adults have been immunized with at least one dose, and about half of the country’s eligible population still needs to get vaccinated.
“We now have to target the harder-to-reach communities in the city, in the urban areas, in the suburbs and in the rural areas,” said Levine. “Federally supported community vaccination centers like those right here in Philadelphia free up city resources to focus on small, mobile vaccination clinics in the hardest-hit communities.”
In order to achieve herd immunity, she said they need to improve communication about vaccine safety at the local level.
“Because it’s going to be community leaders that are going to be able to work with the community and get past any vaccine hesitancy,” she added.
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“We’re looking at even more clinics and right now they just restarted one of our fire department clinics using Johnson and Johnson,” noted Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel. “We’re going to be doing pop-ups all over. We have seen the value of doing those pop-ups in churches. We are going to be doing them potentially in retail stores.”
Earlier this week, city officials said they had about 4,000 Pfizer vaccine doses that needed to be administered before they became unusable. FEMA regional spokesperson Charlie Elison clarified that they don’t throw away vaccines, but the rumor gave the site one of its most successful vaccination days since demand started to dwindle.
“The Philadelphia Department of Public Health prioritizes and optimizes getting vaccines out that are closest to the expiration date,” he explained. “We get exactly the number of vaccinations we need here, and we have zero waste at this facility. So at the end of the day, we don’t throw away any vaccines here. We keep our doors open until the last vaccines are given.”
Levine said 90% of Americans can currently get access to a vaccine within 5 miles of where they live.
“It is so important for the recovery of the United States from the COVID-19 pandemic for everyone to get these shots,” she added.