UPDATE: U.S. Calls for Pause on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine After Clotting Cases

[BumRushDaShow]

40. Oddly enough, despite my thankfully being able to independently get an appointment for a shot

(Moderna, with 1st dose 3/17 and scheduled 2nd dose 4/21 at a pharmacy near me), my city (Philly) who I signed up with per their recommendation almost 3 months ago, FINALLY sent me a notification of availability of appointments yesterday. They both called and left an automated notification message AND emailed me.

Their plan was for shots to be administered by a repurposed FEMA site at the PA Convention Center (previously used for a mass vaccination site of Pfizer vaccines), and that site would now be doing J&J shots.

Here in Philly we have MANY MANY "at home" 65+s (the bulk are "Baby Boomers" who sometimes don't consider themselves "seniors" ), so they are NOT in any "facility" and some are home-bound (including joint replacements and whatnot) and not able to stand in line at a mass vaccination site for hours. As of last week, far less than 1/2 of that group have been full vaccinated -

As expanded eligibility looms, Philadelphia races to vaccinate more than half its senior population

About 37% of people age 65 and older in Philadelphia, which has the largest share of senior citizens among America’s largest cities, have been fully vaccinated.

by Jason Laughlin, Laura McCrystal, and Chris A. Williams
Published Apr 8, 2021

Despite being eligible for almost a month, most of Philadelphia’s senior citizens have not yet received shots, even as the city is on the cusp of expanding COVID-19 vaccine access to its entire adult population.

About 37% of people age 65 and older in Philadelphia, which has the largest share of senior citizens among America’s largest cities, have been fully vaccinated, data from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health showed. Even among people 75 and older, who have been eligible for vaccination in Philadelphia since Jan. 19, 48% have received at least a first vaccine dose. The data show the city lagging behind the rest of the state — and the country.

https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/philadelphia-vaccine-seniors-65-eligibility-20210408.html

But unfortunately what happened early on, you had nearly half of the allocated doses for the city (which are given to us separately from the state and directly from the federal government) given to people who did NOT live in the city. In fact, the chain pharmacies were found to be kicking out actual qualified city residents for being able to make appointments, in favor of people from the suburban counties, who could come into the city, and get shots. That was finally rectified when the city forced the providers to request proof of residency.

How Rite Aid’s ‘glitch’ helped suburban residents get Philly’s vaccine supply

By Ryan Briggs, Nina Feldman March 4, 2021


Rite Aid locations in Philadelphia have vaccinated suburban residents with supplies of the city’s doses at a rate far exceeding their competitors — a phenomenon exacerbated by a computer glitch that paradoxically barred vulnerable Philadelphians from accessing the vaccine.

New data from the city’s Health Department released at the request of WHYY News shows that nearly 60% of more than 31,000 vaccine doses administered at Rite Aids in the city through the end of February went to out-of-city residents. For comparison, Walgreens and CVS locations in the city vaccinated 29% and 40% non-residents, respectively.

Rite Aid spokesperson Christopher Savarese said the pharmacy chain, which is currently the second-largest private provider of vaccines in Philadelphia, followed state regulations — which do not include county residency requirements.

Savarese could not immediately explain why the company, which operates roughly 80 stores in the city, had vaccinated so many more suburbanites.

https://whyy.org/articles/how-rite-aids-glitch-helped-suburban-residents-get-phillys-vaccine-supply/

The city is scheduled for their weekly COVID-19 briefing today, so I expect the media will have a field day. In fact, I just checked the City Health Department's twitter feed and found this from about 90 minutes ago -

Link to tweet

TEXT

Philadelphia Public Health
@PHLPublicHealth
Effective immediately, and in the interest of safety, the Health Department is STOPPING the use of Johnson & Johnson at all clinics. We will post here on changes as they are confirmed. If you have a J&J appt today, you should receive notification of any change.
8:59 AM · Apr 13, 2021

So that's the end of that!