Long line forms at Pennsylvania Convention Center in hopes of getting leftover vaccine doses
PHILADELPHIA - A long line formed at the Pennsylvania Convention Center’s FEMA vaccine site on Wednesday after social media was abuzz with talks about overflow of vaccine available.
Those first in line got there before 7 a.m. all without appointments. They hoped that what they heard about extra shots being given first come first serve was true.
But hours later, there weren't any. FEMA employees say they met their goal of 6,000 doses a day and that means no shots for these people
"When we look at this crowd here this is exactly what we wanna message that showing up here and waiting, especially for these folks who are physically able to wait here for a long time, we understand its disappointing," Charlie Elison said.
The city is handling any overflow or same-day appointments and FEMA wants to make it clear this is not extra vaccine. Its destination is to the city's most vulnerable who are next in line.
"While every day we have some no-show appointments. The city has a good process of going those vaccines into the arms of same-day appointments working with partner community organizations who get the most vulnerable Philadelphians up here in phase 1A 1B," Elison said.
"I heard there was so overflow and people got lucky so I came back today hoping for the best so maybe the third time is the charm," one person said.
FEMA says that while yes in their first few days they did take a couple of same-day walk-ups that is not happening now, especially if you are not in Phase 1A or IB.
"We are here to get the vaccine into Philadelphia's most vulnerable population, but we wanna encourage Philadelphians to show a little humanity and patience. There are a lot of vulnerable communities out there who can't stand in line all day, Elison said.
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