Philadelphia officials have announced the date of the start of Phase 2 of COVID vaccine eligibility, when everyone over the age of 16 will be eligible to get vaccinated. The date is April 19, the same as in Pennsylvania, and it is two weeks earlier from the previously estimated date – May 1.

Starting Monday, April 12, Philadelphia will expand vaccine eligibility to more groups of essential workers under the current Phase 1C. These groups include construction workers, transportation workers, social service workers, finance and legal workers, as well as people working in higher education and IT & telecommunications, and more. Phase 1C began yesterday, but only four groups of essential workers in this phase are currently eligible to get vaccinated: postal and package delivery workers, sanitation workers, utility workers, and maintenance and janitorial staff. Continue Reading

Philadelphia will enter the next phase of COVID vaccine eligibility, Phase 1c, beginning Monday, April 5, the city’s Department of Public Health announced today. This phase includes essential workers with lower risk of coronavirus exposure. The following four groups of essential workers are being prioritized within this phase and will be eligible to receive the vaccine starting this Monday:

• sanitation workers
• maintenance and janitorial workers
• utility workers
• postal and package delivery workers

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Today, the School District of Philadelphia has announced its plans to welcome back students in grades 3-5 and students with complex needs in grades 6-8 in school buildings (Phase 2 of its Hybrid Learning Plan), and the beginning of the application process for families.

Beginning Tuesday, April 6, families can complete the Phase 2 Learning Model Selection Survey, where they can choose to have their children participate in hybrid learning. Families will have to make this selection until Tuesday, April 13. Phase 2 hybrid learning students would attend school in-person two days per week and engage in digital learning three days each week, beginning the week of Monday, April 26. Continue Reading

Starting today, the FEMA-run COVID vaccination site located at the Pennsylvania Convention Center will only administer second doses for about three weeks to those who received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the clinic and scheduled an appointment for the second dose, according to city officials. After that, the site will switch to administering single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccinations. No walk-ups will be accepted at the site until further announcement.

The site officially opened on March 3 and is scheduled to close on April 30. City officials are hopeful that the Federal Government will extend the site’s operation beyond that date. Continue Reading

The School District of Philadelphia has announced that 22 additional schools will re-open for in-person next month. Students in grades preK-2 whose families have chosen the hybrid learning model, can return to the following schools beginning April 5:

Add B. Anderson School

William C. Bryant School

Laura H. Carnell School

Watson Comly School

Lewis Elkin School Continue Reading

Starting this Wednesday, the FEMA-operated mass COVID vaccination site at the Pennsylvania Convention Center will begin accepting walk-up patients in addition to those who have made appointments. The site will accept walk-ups from eligible Philadelphia residents (Phases 1A and 1B) who live in 22 most under-vaccinated zip codes, including the following zip codes in West and Southwest Philadelphia:

19104, 19131, 19139, 19142, 19143, 19151, 19153

The FEMA vaccination site opened on March 3rd and is scheduled to operate through April 30th. The site, which is currently administering the Pfizer vaccine, has reported many unused doses at the end of each day of operation, mostly due to cancelled appointments made by people who don’t live in the city. The goal of the walk-up clinic is to make the vaccine more accessible to Philadelphians. Continue Reading