Philadelphia residents can now walk into any of three city health centers and get flu and COVID-19 vaccines free of charge. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health is betting that removing cost and scheduling hurdles will get more people immunized this season.
The clinics run weekdays from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Health Center 2, 1700 S. Broad St. in Point Breeze; Health Center 6, 301 W. Girard Ave. in North Philadelphia; and Health Center 10, 2230 Cottman Ave. in Northeast Philadelphia.
No appointment is required, and visitors do not have to be existing patients. The shots cost city residents nothing whether or not they carry insurance, but each person must show proof of living in Philadelphia, such as a utility bill in their own name.
Health Commissioner Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson urged people to act now, saying those who get their flu and COVID-19 vaccines soon will be protected by Thanksgiving and through the rest of the holidays.
City health officials say the campaign follows two winters with a heavy toll of cases and hospitalizations. Nationally, fewer than half of Americans got a flu vaccine last year.
Preliminary figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the country saw its worst respiratory illness levels in more than a quarter century last season, with at least 390,000 people hospitalized for flu and 24,000 killed by it. The agency expects COVID-19, flu and RSV to drive a comparable number of cases and hospitalizations this year.
Under current guidelines, nearly everyone age 6 months and up should receive at least one dose against each virus. That group spans babies, pregnant women and older adults.
Doctors acknowledge the vaccines may not stop every infection, but they say the shots blunt how sick people get. Family physician Millen Gebreselassie, Health Center 10's clinical director, said a flu vaccine lowers the odds of complications and hospital stays even in years when it does not closely match the circulating strain.
Doctors also say wider uptake depends on better public education about vaccine safety and what reactions to expect. Gebreselassie said a flu shot cannot give someone the flu; many people feel nothing afterward, while others may have brief arm soreness or redness, tiredness, headaches, achy muscles or a mild fever.
Raval-Nelson said getting vaccinated also reduces the chance of passing large amounts of virus to vulnerable people nearby, pointing to infants, elderly grandparents, chemotherapy patients and people with no functioning immune system.
