Will Philadelphia region be able to meet Biden's new vaccination goal?
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- President Joe Biden announced on Monday that 90% of adults will be eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine within the next three weeks, and have a vaccination site within five miles of where they live.
"For the vast, vast majority of adults, you won't have to wait until May 1. You'll be eligible for your shot on April 19," Biden said. The president previously said he was directing states to open eligibility to all adult Americans by May 1.
Biden said the United States would increase the number of pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy vaccination program from the current 17,000 locations to 40,000. He also announced a record 33 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be made available to vaccination sites this week.
"Right now, we're receiving 10,000 doses a week," said Rosemarie Holt, the director of the COVID Task Force in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
SEE ALSO: Biden: 90% of adults will be COVID vaccine-eligible in three weeks
That's 10 times what Delaware County was getting before. It's no secret Philadelphia's suburbs have struggled to get a steady supply of vaccines for eligible residents.
Holt says meeting the demand is possible if the supply increases.
"You can't make appointments for people unless you know you're getting the vaccine. There has been a large degree of frustrations for appointments primarily because we can't schedule too far out because I'm not going to scheduled people that I don't have a vaccine for," said Holt.
"There's a lot people like us who are out there trying to do what little they can, but together I think it's attainable," said Dr. Ashok Subramanian. He heads a mobile vaccine bus in Wilmington, Delaware that gets doses to those who don't have access.
"Vaccine procurement has been an issue for all of us at this time," he said. "I think the supply will increase as more and more options are available."
The Philadelphia Health Department says in a statement, "We're glad that the president is pushing to vaccinate people as quickly as possible. We have said before that every adult in Philadelphia will be eligible for vaccination by May 1. We will continue to monitor vaccine dose availability and vaccine demand, and will stay in close contact with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and if appropriate will adjust our schedule."
The health department says there will not be enough vaccine for all city adults by April 19.
With nearly 5 million vaccinations to date, the state says it's getting vaccines into arms as quickly as they receive it.
Delaware County officials are hoping for more doses to help meet the president's goal.
"Given a county this size, close to Philadelphia and other surrounding communities that are densely populated, we should be much higher than we're getting," said Holt.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
