Expand / Collapse search
☰

Philadelphia opens first mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Center City on Friday

Updated  January 8, 2021 9:16am EST
Coronavirus
FOX 29 Philadelphia

Philadelphia opens first mass vaccination clinic on Monday

FOX 29's Lauren Johnson has more on Philadelphia's first mass vaccination clinic.

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia hopes to innoculate around 15,000 home healthcare workers beginning Friday at the city's first mass vaccination cite in Center City.

The pop-up clinic will be held at the Philadelphia Convention Center starting at 8:30 a.m. Officials say the clinic is designed to administer as many as 4,500 vaccines a day. 

Home healthcare workers who may not be affiliated with larger healthcare systems that administered doses will be able to receive the COVID-19 starting Friday.

RELATED: Pfizer study suggests vaccine works against virus variant

More clinics are planned for areas around the city in the days and weeks ahead to help Philadelphia reach herd immunity "quickly and safely."

"There will be a clinic today at the convention center only for healthcare workers and only healthcare workers who have been invited, so I don't want any volunteers showing up there," Farley said. 

Philadelphia opens first mass vaccination clinic Friday

Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley joined Good Day Philadelphia to talk about the latest with the coronavirus vaccine as the city gets ready to open its first mass vaccination clinic at the Philadelphia Convention Center.

According to the latest data, Philadelphia has inoculated more than 31,000 people with the first dose of the highly effective coronavirus vaccine. The vaccine rollout has been sluggish so far, which prompted Dr. Farley to estimate that it would take at least 12 months to vaccinate most of the city's population. 

Appearing on Good Day Philadelphia on Friday, Dr. Farley said Philadelphia is currently only getting 20,000 doses per week which has slowed the vaccination process. He is hopeful that the city's allotment of doses will increase as production ramps up.

The city plans to plot out the next steps in the massive vaccination effort in the coming days, according to Farley.

___

For the latest local news, sports and weather, download the FOX 29 News app.

DOWNLOAD: FOX 29 NEWS APP

Sign up for emails from FOX 29, including our daily Good Day Digest newsletter