Meghan Romano and Grace Gillespie ’22 after getting their COVID-19 vaccines at the FEMA site.
On Wed. March 17, the city of Philadelphia opened a walk-up vaccine center at the Philadelphia convention center to 22 zip codes in Philadelphia. Eligible zip codes can be found here. These zip codes were considered undervaccinated. The walk-up vaccinations are open to those who meet phase 1a and 1b criteria and can prove that they live in the zip codes using an ID card, a piece of mail with an address or a PHL City ID. The City of Philadelphia and SEPTA are teaming up to offer free roundtrip transit passes for those in the targeted zip codes. The Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) is running this vaccine site. This site has been administering the Pfizer vaccine, but will soon begin using the single dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
La Salle University is included in these undervaccinated zip codes and some students were able to go to the FEMA site at the convention center and get vaccinated. Meghan Romano headed to the convention center early one morning and said, “Waking up at 5 in the morning was so worth it to go downtown and get my first dose of the vaccine at the Convention Center. The whole process was quick and painless and I’m excited to get my second shot soon!” Billy O’Brien used his off-campus address at La Salle to get the vaccine. O’Brien said, “I’m a food service worker so that did put me in phase 1b of vaccine rollouts. In general, the experience was quick and easy. There was no line, I went in and got my vaccine and left in all of 25 minutes. The military and FEMA’s doing a great job in running the operation.” Justin Lai was also pleased with his experience getting his vaccine at the Convention Center, saying, “it was a lot more organized than I thought it would be. Everyone there was super nice and helpful and I was in and out in 20 minutes.”
In addition to the site at the Convention Center, a new site has opened in South Philadelphia at the Grand Yesha Ballroom on the 2300 block of Snyder Avenue. This site has a goal of vaccinating 500 per day. The city also plans to open a second site in South Philadelphia soon. In addition, there are various city-run mass vaccine clinics throughout the city as well. These efforts are moving Philadelphia towards a pre-pandemic life. 150,000 have been vaccinated so far and more will be soon with the continued implication of mass vaccine clinics all over the city.
The La Salle Collegian 