For the last four months, the City of Philadelphia has been working to ensure that the people who are at the highest risk of being exposed, being hospitalized, and dying from COVID-19 can be protected. Because we haven’t had enough vaccine to vaccinate everyone who needed it, we had to prioritize. Which means that many of us have had to wait for our turn. We focused on vaccinating our healthcare workers and nursing home residents, first responders and food service workers, people in congregate living facilities and people with high-risk medical conditions.

And Philadelphians understood that. Residents were patient and followed the rules. Nearly half a million Philadelphians signed up on the City’s Vaccine Interest Form, from every neighborhood in the city.

Recently though, we’ve been getting more vaccines and we’ve been opening more vaccine sites. That means that more Philadelphians are getting vaccinated. We’ve administered an average of 120,000 doses each of the last three weeks. With the announcement that the Center City Vaccination Center being extended and the opening of the Esperanza Community Vaccination Center, we are quickly reaching the point where everyone in Phase 1 who wants an appointment can get one. 

And the numbers show that. More than 450,000 Philadelphians have had at least one dose of vaccine. More than 300,000 are fully vaccinated. You could fill the Linc more than four times (not socially distanced) with fully vaccinated Philadelphians! Statistically, if you randomly chose four Philadelphia residents over the age of 16, at least one of them would be fully vaccinated.

So rather than wait for everyone in Phase 1 to be vaccinated and potentially leave appointment slots open and walk-up opportunities unused, we want to keep the pedal to the metal. We want to get back to normal. We want YOU to be safe. 

So starting immediately, we are moving to Phase 2. That means every Philadelphian over the age of 16 is eligible to set an appointment or go to a clinic that has walk-ups and get vaccinated. And there are so many places where you can get vaccinated: more than 250, all across the city.

Just show that you’re a Philadelphia resident and you’re set. If there are too many choices, may we suggest these:

The Center City Vaccination Center can vaccinate 6,000 people per day, half by appointment and half by walk-up.

The Esperanza Community Vaccination Center can vaccinate more than 1,000 people per day, half by appointment and half by walk-up.

The City-run Community Vaccine Clinics are open on certain days throughout the city and if they have unfilled appointment slots, they will take walk-ups.