Updated March 22 at 1:52 p.m.
Temple University will begin vaccinating eligible students, employees and city residents against COVID-19 at an invitation-only clinic beginning the week of March 29, wrote Mark Denys, the director of Student Health Services, in an email to students, faculty and staff today.
The vaccine clinic will be open two days a week on Main Campus. Students, faculty and staff who live in Philadelphia will be vaccinated on one day, while eligible city residents will be vaccinated on the other day, according to the announcement.
Temple will use White Hall as the vaccination site because students are not currently living there, wrote Raymond Betzner, a spokesperson for the university, in an email to The Temple News.
The city is providing vaccines to Temple in limited quantities, and the university will vaccinate by invitation and appointment only, according to the announcement. Students, faculty and staff must complete a vaccine interest form and will be invited to schedule an appointment once they are deemed eligible by city criteria.
Philadelphia is currently in Phase 1B of its vaccine distribution effort, which includes first responders, people aged 65 years or older, people working or residing in congregate settings and people with high-risk medical conditions. On March 19, Philadelphia expanded its Phase 1B vaccine eligibility to include clergy members, individuals with intellectual disabilities, staff at senior centers or day programs for those with intellectual disabilities and people who take immune-suppressing medications, The Temple News reported.
Health Commissioner Thomas Farley expects Philadelphia will be moving to Phase 1C, which includes essential workers like sanitation, transportation and maintenance staff, in April, and expects to enter Phase 2, which includes anyone over the age of 16 that has not yet been vaccinated, on May 1, The Temple News reported.
The city has partially vaccinated 415,676 residents and fully vaccinated 164,057 residents as of March 19, according to its vaccine dashboard.
President Richard Englert announced Temple was working with Philadelphia officials to become a “point of distribution” for COVID-19 vaccines to the Temple and North Philadelphia communities at the university’s Board of Trustees meeting on March 16, The Temple News reported.
The College of Public Health has been vaccinating students, faculty and staff in clinical settings since January as well as some high-risk populations at the university, The Temple News reported.
Temple University Health System has been vaccinating its health care workers since Dec. 16, 2020, The Temple News reported.
Temple Health has vaccinated 75 percent of its workforce as of March 22, wrote Dr. Tony Reed, executive vice president and chief medical officer of Temple Health and Temple University Hospital, in an email to The Temple News.
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