Each week, the city of Philadelphia gets about 25,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government. These doses are then allocated with 108 sites that have been approved by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health to administer the vaccines. 

These sites include hospitals, federally qualified health centers, pharmacies, and trusted community groups. Each site has its own distribution guidelines in compliance with local and federal regulations. For instance, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is leading the effort to vaccinate local public school teachers and other education staff. The Black Doctor’s Consortium is working with the city’s underserved Black community to advance racial equity in the process. 

A full list of the sites (current as of 2/9) can be found at https://www.phila.gov/2021-02-10-weekly-philadelphia-covid-19-vaccine-distribution-updates/. 

Philly Fighting COVID was initially leading mass vaccination efforts at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. However, their 6% share of the city’s vaccine supply was cut after WHYY and Billy Penn exposed questionable business and ethical practices from the organization. These vaccines have since been redistributed among the other sites. 

The city will begin direct mass vaccination efforts starting February 22 at Community Academy of Philadelphia Charter School in Harrowgate, the Martin Luther King Older Adult Center in North Philadelphia, and the University of the Sciences in West Philadelphia.  

The easiest way to determine when you and your family members are eligible to get vaccinated is to register on the city’s vaccine interest form (https://covid-vaccine-interest.phila.gov/). The top right-hand corner of the web page allows you to complete in Spanish. Once you submit the form, you will be notified when a vaccine dose becomes available.

More than 180,000 vaccines have been administered in Philadelphia. Latinxs people have currently received less than 5,000 in the city, making up only 3% of the total.

The truth is that the only way to ensure the safety of yourself, your family, and your community is to get the vaccine once it becomes available.