A new mass vaccination site in North Philadelphia might be opening next month, according to a new report from WHYY. 

If approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the site located on the Hunting Park campus of community hub Esperanza would be another positive step toward ensuring that the city’s Latinx community does not fall further behind in the rate of getting the shots. 

The site is scheduled to open in late April and would have the capacity of giving the COVID-19 vaccine to 3,000 people daily. 

Unlike most of the current sites, notably the one at the Philadelphia Convention Center, the location of the site would be easily accessible to residents of the largely Latinx neighborhoods in North Philadelphia.

“People need to be able to walk to it,” Councilmember Maria Quiñones-Sánchez said to WHYY.

Only 8.6% of Latinx Phildelphians have received their COVID-19 vaccine, according to data from the city’s health department, compared to 11.4% of African Americans and 22% of white residents of the city.

According to previous correspondence between Esperanza’s Rev. Luis Cortés and AL DÍA, the site is one the community hub has been calling for for “over a month.”

“Everyone speaks of equity, but no one seems to be able to do equity when it comes to the vaccines,” Cortés said in a written statement to AL DÍA.

At the time, the city had expressed to AL DÍA that it would be “extremely excited” to partner with Esperanza on a vaccine hub for North Philadelphia and the city’s Latino community.

It seems that partnership has come to fruition. 

AL DIA News will continue to follow this development and will provide additional information if and when the vaccination site is opened.