The COVID-19 vaccine is being distributed in phases in Philadelphia. You will be eligible to receive the vaccine when the City of Philadelphia reaches the vaccine distribution phase of the group that you are in.

Vaccine is now available to persons who are eligible in phase 1a and phase 1b.

The phases are based on a person’s level of risk of acquiring infection, transmitting infection to vulnerable persons, or suffering severe consequences of infection:

• Phase 1a includes patient-facing healthcare workers and elderly residents of long-term care facilities.
• Phase 1b includes frontline workers at high risk for exposure who perform essential duties, persons working and residing in congregate settings, persons 75 years and older, and persons with high-risk medical conditions.
• Phase 1c includes essential workers with lower risk of exposure and persons 65 – 74 years.
• Phase 2 includes all individuals 16 years and older not previously immunized.

Patient-facing healthcare workers
Healthcare workers affiliated with acute care hospitals and health systems will be vaccinated through occupational health clinics.

Unaffiliated healthcare workers can receive the vaccine at:

• Participating retail pharmacies (currently, age 75+ only).
• Health Department clinics or mobile teams.
• Federally Qualified Health Centers and outpatient clinics.
• Mass vaccination events operated by the Health Department or a community partner.

Sign-up to receive notifications when new vaccination opportunities become available: Medical Personnel COVID-19 Vaccine Contact Form.

Long-term care facility residents and staff
The CDC’s Pharmacy Partnership for Long Term Care Program will provide onsite vaccination services through CVS and Walgreens.

Frontline essential workers at high risk for exposure
Vaccine will be available at:

• Participating retail pharmacies (currently, age 75+ only).
• Clinics based at organizations.
• Federally Qualified Health Centers and outpatient clinics.
• Health Department clinics.
• Mass vaccination events operated by the Health Department or a community partner.

Frontline essential workers will be prioritized in the order in which they are listed on the Schedule and Definitions of Priority Populations.

The availability of the vaccination options above will depend on vaccine supply, the number of persons needing to be vaccinated, and the capabilities of partner organizations.

Persons at high risk of morbidity/mortality (severe COVID-19 disease or death)
Those who are age 75+ or who have the highest-risk medical conditions may receive vaccine at:

• Hospitals.
• Participating retail pharmacies (currently, age 75+ only).
• Federally Qualified Health Centers and and outpatient clinics.
• Mass vaccination events operated by the Health Department or a community partner.

The Health Department has asked hospitals and clinics to begin inviting these persons to be vaccinated. Vaccination efforts will initially target those with chronic kidney disease, cancer, organ transplant, diabetes. A complete list of high-risk medical conditions is included in the Schedule and Definitions of Priority Populations.

Persons working or residing in congregate settings
These persons may receive vaccine at:

• Their organization.
• Through contracts with pharmacies (currently, age 75+ only) or other providers.
• Mobile vaccination teams.
• Mass vaccination events operated by the Health Department or a community partner.
• A Health Department clinic if no other access to vaccine is available.

The Health Department will work with persons in these settings to connect them to providers.

Essential workers at lower risk of exposure
Vaccine will be available at:

• Participating retail pharmacies (currently, age 75+ only).
• Healthcare providers.
• Clinics based at organizations.
• Mass vaccination events operated by the Health Department or a community partner.

Essential workers will be prioritized in the order in which they are listed on the Schedule and Definitions of Priority Populations.

The availability of the vaccination options above will depend on vaccine supply, the number of persons needing to be vaccinated, and the capabilities of partner organizations.

Persons at high risk of morbidity/mortality (severe COVID-19 disease or death)
Those who are age 65-74 years may receive vaccine at:

• Hospitals.
• Participating retail pharmacies (currently, age 75+ only).
• Federally Qualified Health Centers, outpatient clinics, and smaller pop-up clinics.
• Mass vaccination events operated by the Health Department or a community partner.

Phase 2 will include everyone 16 years of age and older who has not been immunized. It is expected that the vaccine will be widely available through Philadelphia’s various healthcare networks as well as through community vaccination events and pop-up clinics.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee (VAC) helped the Health Department determine priority populations for vaccination based on a framework of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).  Priority populations were defined by their increased risk of exposure to COVID-19, their increased risk of transmitting infection to vulnerable persons, and/or their increased risk of suffering serious morbidity/mortality from COVID-19.

Thoughtful allocation of vaccine is critical to preventing continued morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in Philadelphia. We are committed to assuring equitable access, creating transparency in the planning process, and inspiring public confidence in this important public health intervention.

Because of the city’s size, the CDC recognizes Philadelphia as an independent Immunization Program. Therefore, we are able to determine our own priority groups for vaccination and are not bound to the state’s priority scheme. We do strive to be consistent, but sometimes the demographics of Philadelphia’s population requires a different approach to save more lives.

Philadelphia’s recommendations for priority groups were made by the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee (VAC), after thorough review of the recommendations of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The VAC chose to place persons at the highest risk of severe morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in Phase 1b, which includes persons greater than 75 years of age and persons with certain predisposing medical conditions. These predisposing conditions are over-represented among communities of color, so prioritizing this group improves health equity. Healthy persons aged 65-74 years are at lower risk of morbidity and mortality than these other groups so they have been placed in Phase 1c in Philadelphia.

Because the vaccine has not yet been tested in children, only people 16 years and older may receive vaccine at this time (Pfizer vaccine if 16 years and older, Moderna vaccine if 18 years and older).

Vaccine can be administered to pregnant women; those women who are interested in receiving the vaccine should speak with their OB-GYN or regular healthcare provider.

We do not know what level of antibodies in the blood indicates protection from COVID-19. Therefore, it is recommended that you be vaccinated even if you have antibodies in your blood.

We do not know how long someone is protected after getting sick and recovering from COVID; this is called natural immunity. Early evidence suggests natural immunity from COVID-19 may not last very long, but more studies are needed to better understand this.

If you have had COVID-19 infection within the last 90 days, you do not need to receive the vaccine now. This is because it is uncommon to get COVID-19 again within this time period. However, after 90 days, vaccination is recommended.

If you choose to get the vaccine sooner than 90 days after COVID-19 illness, you must wait until you are cleared from isolation in order to protect staff and other individuals at the vaccination site. You also must not be under quarantine after COVID-19 exposure.

If you were treated for COVID-19 illness with monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma, you should wait 90 days before getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Please talk to your doctor if you have questions about the treatments you received.

Preliminary data released about the vaccines indicate that the vaccines are very effective in preventing infection.

Vaccine efficacy is determined by the proportionate reduction in COVID-19 cases occurring among vaccinated persons when compared to unvaccinated persons (“controls”). Currently, Pfizer vaccine efficacy rate is reported as 95% and Moderna vaccine efficacy rate is 94.1%. These are very good efficacy rates.

Both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines need two doses to be effective. The interval between the two doses depends on which vaccine brand you receive:

• Pfizer-BioNTech: 3 weeks (21 days)
• Moderna: 1 month (28 days)

You should try your best to follow this schedule to get your second dose. If this is not possible, it is ok to get the second dose up to 6 weeks (42 days) after the first dose. There is limited data on vaccine efficacy when the second dose is given beyond this time, but if it happens, you do not need to start the series over.

You must start and finish with the same vaccine brand. You are not fully protected until after you receive the second dose, so it is very important to come back for a second dose. Try to schedule your appointment for a second dose at the time that you receive your first dose.

We do not know how long protection with COVID-19 vaccine will last. With other vaccines, immunity may be lifelong (e.g., measles vaccine) or it may only last a few months  (e.g., influenza).  Some vaccines need regular booster doses (e.g., pertussis) to remain effective. We will learn how long immunity lasts with COVID-19 vaccine by following vaccine recipients for years after their immunization.

Having a safe and effective vaccine is a top priority in Philadelphia. Approving vaccines as safe, and making sure they work, is the responsibility of the FDA and CDC. The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other groups look at information about a vaccine and make informed decisions about the risks and benefits of using it. The Health Department is committed to making vaccine available only after we are confident that it is safe and effective.

Additional FAQs from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center

The safety of a vaccine is determined by watching for side effects or complications in people who have received immunization with the vaccine. Post-vaccination observation for side effects occurs both during the research studies and, also later, when the vaccine is in widespread use. Almost all adverse events that are associated with vaccines occur within six weeks following the immunization. That is why the COVID-19 vaccine trials required eight weeks of observation for vaccine recipients before deciding that the vaccines are safe.

In an emergency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may not have all of the evidence it would usually want before deciding to approve a new vaccine. The FDA can make a judgment that it’s worth releasing the vaccine even without all the evidence that would fully establish its effectiveness and safety. This type of release is called an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).  One of the minimum requirements for the FDA to issue an EUA is that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the known potential risks.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health reviewed the safety data made available by the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer(s), the CDC, and the FDA before allowing the vaccine to be used in Philadelphia.

Two large clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines included about 3,000 African American participants each. Moderna, one of the companies making vaccine, slowed down its clinical trials in September 2020 to boost the number of minority participants. Fully enrolled at about 30,000 participants, their study included 3,000 African American participants (10% of total) and twice as many Hispanic/Latinx participants for a total of 36% enrollees of color. The other vaccine manufacturer, Pfizer, conducted a trial with about 43,000 participants, including over 3,000 African American participants (9% of total), and over 10,000 Hispanic/Latinx participants, for a total of about 30% enrollees of color.

In these trials, efficacy of the vaccine was consistent across demographic groups and there were no safety concerns when these groups were individually analyzed.

Potential short-term side effects include:

• A sore arm.
• General muscle aches.
• Headache.
• Fatigue.
• Chills.
• Fever.

These side effects are signals that your immune system is working.

No. There are no known drug interactions with the COVID-19 vaccine.

The COVID-19 vaccine will not give you COVID-19 infection. There is no living COVID-19 virus in the vaccines now available. Being vaccinated with the vaccine, however, will greatly reduce your chances of getting COVID-19 in the future.

You should not get the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine if you had a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient of the vaccine or a previous dose of the vaccine.

Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine EUA fact sheets for recipient and caregivers

The vaccine is being provided by the federal government and is free of charge to all US residents.

Your healthcare provider may charge your insurance company for an administrative fee, but they may not charge you anything for the vaccination. You do not need to pay a co-pay, a deductible, or balance billing to your provider. People who have no insurance may also seek vaccination without needing to pay.

Ideally, everyone in Philadelphia will choose to be vaccinated against COVID-19. However, the infection may stop spreading as easily when we can achieve “herd immunity” in the population. Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune. For COVID-19, we believe that herd immunity may be achieved when we have at least 70% of the population vaccinated, although experts are still studying what this threshold will be.

No. COVID-19 vaccination is not mandatory in Philadelphia. If you have concerns about receiving the vaccine, please discuss them with your healthcare provider or contact the Health Department.

Absolutely! It is important for everyone to continue to take careful precautions (such as wearing masks and social distancing) until a large proportion of the population is vaccinated and we are sure the vaccine provides long-term protection. We also do not yet know if individuals who have been vaccinated can still transmit the virus to others if they are exposed, even if they do not get sick themselves.

We strongly recommend getting vaccinated, as it significantly decreases the chance of you getting COVID-19 and may decrease your risk of spreading COVID-19 to others. COVID-19 can cause serious illness and death. If you do not get vaccinated, you put not only yourself at risk, but those you love or care about. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a safer choice.