Philly Nixes 1000's Of Improperly Scheduled Vaccine Appointments

Philadelphia PA

24 March, 2021

11:07 AM

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PHILADELPHIA — Thousands of improperly scheduled coronavirus vaccination appointments in Philadelphia are being canceled, according to officials. Due to people sharing vaccine appointment registration links and QR codes with others who are not eligible for the vaccine by Philadelphia's standards, health officials are canceling thousands of appointments. Philadelphia Department of Public Health Communications Director James Garrow said officials found 11,000 invalid appointments for the first week of vaccination efforts at the Center City Vaccination Center at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Garrow said with three weeks of appointments in the books, he estimated the total number of canceled appointments could be as high as 30,000. Those who show up for a vaccine with an improperly scheduled appointment will be turned away. The Center City Vaccination Center as of Monday has vaccinated about 122,000 people, Health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said Tuesday. He said over the next three weeks, the site will only be administering second doses to those who got their first doses at the site. After second doses are administered, the Center City site, run by FEMA, will only be open for two more weeks. During those two weeks, the site will be administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which only required one dose. Over those two, weeks about 84k people will be fully vaccinated by end of April and More than 200,000 people will have been fully vaccinated at the Center City site when it closes. As of Tuesday, 459,131 people have been partially vaccinated in Philadelphia and 179,089 have been fully vaccinated.