Philadelphia Launches Coronavirus Vaccine Interest Website
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Department of Public has launched its own coronavirus vaccine interest sign up website as more residents become eager to get vaccinated.
Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley Tuesday said the city this week would launch the site. The website is in English and Spanish.
Interested residents can fill out the form online here.
Those who complete the interest form will be contacted by the Department of Public Health or one of the city’s many vaccine partners when they can schedule an appointment. Information collected through the form is protected using the same level of security as other health information maintained by the Department of Public Health and is completely secure.
Due to extremely limited vaccine supply at this time, residents cannot set appointments using the website. Additionally, residents may need to wait weeks or months to schedule vaccination appointments.
However, by registering on the website, residents can ensure that they will be notified when vaccine becomes available to them.
"Having a vaccine against COVID is a major step forward, but we understand that many Philadelphians are frustrated by not knowing how to get vaccinated," Farley said. "While we cannot make more doses of vaccine appear, with this sign-up, we can at least assure interested Philadelphians that they will be contacted when their opportunity to get vaccinated comes up."
The Department of Public Health is also working with other organizations that have set up what they describe as "pre-registration sites" — including Philly Fighting COVID, the Black Doctor’s COVID-19 Consortium, and Acme — to ensure that the information those groups have collected will be added to the city’s database. Health Department officials are developing tools to ensure that residents can register using any site, or all of the sites (ensuring that their information is collated into one record), so they can be contacted when they are eligible to get their vaccination.
During Tuesday's press briefing, Farley announced the city is moving into Phase 1b of the vaccine rollout, with certain groups within that phase prioritized given current levels of vaccine supply.
The following categories of people are eligible to receive vaccine doses at this time:
Health care workers
People who live in nursing homes
First responders (such as police officers and firefighters)
People who live and work in congregate settings, such as behavioral health facilities
People age 75 or older
People under age 75 who have:
Cancer
Organ transplant(s)
Chronic kidney disease
Diabetes
As more vaccine doses are made available, additional groups within Phase 1b will be invited to begin receiving their vaccinations.
Despite only a relatively small number of people being administered the vaccine for the time being, everyone who indicates that they want to get a vaccine will be contacted and given the opportunity to make an appointment. Those seeking vaccinations need not call their personal health care provider to ask about setting an appointment.
And even with a vaccine being administered in the city, residents are encouraged to continue to use the same precautions that they’ve become so good at over the last 10 months: wear your mask, stay socially distanced, and don’t gather with people who aren’t in your household.
As of Thursday, 79,897 people in Philadelphia have received their first dose of the vaccine; 19,383 people have received both doses of the vaccine.
This article originally appeared on the Philadelphia Patch
