Philadelphia fixes vaccination registration link; FEMA hitting close to daily vaccination goal

Tuesday, March 9, 2021
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The COVID-19 FEMA site in Philadelphia had a goal to vaccinate 6,000 people a day, and over the first five days, the site has vaccinated 5,908 people on average per day.

But Tuesday's beautiful weather left many with few complaints as Action News checked in with those in line.

The city announced that it's working with the software company in charge of registration, in which they believe they fixed the biggest hiccup thus far.

The link that eligible registrants received was forwarded and allowed ineligible people to sign up and successfully receive the vaccine.

The city admitted Tuesday there is still no way to verify if someone does have a qualifying pre-existing health condition.

"That problem may still be there today. It should be fixed for tomorrow and beyond," said Dr. Farley. "The new system will be just a direct email to someone, and that email gets them into the scheduling software, and there's no link to forward. Those emails have to be sent by the software company themselves, and there's only so many they can do per day."

The city discourages people who plan to show up to the convention center to get vaccinated from a leftover dose from a "no-show" registrant.

Farley says it is not a "walk-up" clinic, and there are measures in place to ensure leftovers get into the arms of eligible people equitably.

"We have a number of community organizations that have helped get people on a standby list, and then we can contact them at the last minute," said Farley.

He adds that about 5 to 10% of people a day are no-shows.
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