Philly Could Reach Herd Immunity By June, Experts Say

PHILADELPHIA — Herd immunity could only be a few months away in Philadelphia, as coronavirus vaccine administration is increasing thanks to more doses being allotted to the city and pharmacies, as well as the mass clinic being run by FEMA at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

During a news conference Tuesday, Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said more people in the city have received vaccines than have had confirmed cases of the virus.

As of Tuesday, 297,030 Philadelphians have gotten their first doses of the vaccine and 124,578 have been fully vaccinated, while 115,997 cases have been confirmed.

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Philadelphia has a population of about 1.5 million people. According to Farley, experts say herd immunity is effective when 70 to 80 percent of a population is protected against an infection.

"Infection probably gives you antibodies to protect against future infection, and vaccination we know gives you protection against future infection," he said. "Those two numbers increase the number of people here who are protected from infection and that should reduce the spread in the community."

Still, Farley said the city is not near the 70 to 80 percent protected figure.

"We're not there yet," he said. "We may be at a point where it's reducing the number of infections, but we're not at that point where we can really cycle down to zero [cases]."

But Farley has hope that the city will reach that point in the coming months. When asked how many months, Farley said he hopes by June.

"But please don't hold me to that," he said.

The city is getting more doses of the vaccine, too. This week the city got 19,890 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 15,600 first doses of the Moderna vaccine.

Farley said the FEMA-run mass vaccination site in the Pennsylvania Convention Center is giving about 42,000 a week.

For full information about getting a coronavirus vaccine in Pennsylvania, visit Patch's information hub.