City officials: More than 60% of Philadelphia adults are fully vaccinated

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A vaccine clinic was recently held at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Hughe Dillon

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health reported an additional 10,970 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Philadelphia since last reported on Thursday, Aug. 19. This brings the total number of fully vaccinated Philadelphians to at least 804,100. Currently, 64.8 percent of Philadelphia adults are fully vaccinated, and 79.1 percent of Philadelphia adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

City officials released the updated numbers on Monday, Aug. 23, the same day that the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine.

“This is very exciting news because we know that there have been people waiting for full FDA approval to get vaccinated. With full approval from the FDA, this vaccine is now considered as safe as any other vaccine or drug on the market,” said Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole said in a statement. “We hope that this final bit of information will help convince even more Philadelphians to join the more than 800,000 Philadelphians who are already fully vaccinated and doing their part to protect our city from the pandemic.”

There are currently 190 patients with COVID-19 being treated in Philadelphia hospitals, with a total of 22 on ventilators, according to the Department of Public Health.

In the last two weeks, seven percent of COVID-19 tests in Philadelphia have come back positive— the city has averaged 274 new cases per day during that time. Overall, 152,333 Philadelphians have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and 3,797 have succumbed to the virus.