Philadelphia vaccine distribution a ‘disaster’ after ‘college kids’ put to work

The city has cut ties with Philly Fighting COVID over its messy handling of the event

Jan 27, 2021

Officials in Philadelphia teamed with the start-up Philly Fighting COVID for the city’s first mass vaccination site. But the event turned out to be a nightmare for local senior citizens.

The city has now cut ties with the organization, a self-described “group of college kids.” Prosecutors are looking into allegations that 22-year-old CEO, Andrei Doroshin, pocketed leftover vaccine doses on Saturday (Jan. 23), while teenage members of the group vaccinated each other. The Philly Fighting COVID team, including Doroshin, reportedly have no medical training, Washington Post reports.

Community leaders began side-eyeing Philly Fighting COVID last week when the group pulled out of hosting coronavirus testing clinics in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods, the report states. Then, on Saturday, the college kids working the mass vaccination site claimed a mismanaged sign-up form was reason enough to turn away dozens of seniors who lined up for hours to be vaccinated at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

“There were literally 85-year-old, 90-year-old people standing there in tears, with printed appointment confirmations, saying: ‘I don’t understand why I can’t get vaccinated. I’m 85,’ ” one witness told WHYY.

Katrina Lipinsky, 29, a registered nurse who was on site on Saturday, said she saw Doroshin help himself to unused coronavirus vaccines.

“They ended the day with a significant number of unused vaccines,” Lipinsky said. “Andrei walked pretty openly from the vaccine area over to his belongings and packed maybe 10 to 15 in his bag with CDC record cards.”

On Twitter, she wrote: “As an RN who volunteered to give vaccines for them I feel super sh***y about my complicity in this mess. I was there Saturday – Andrei Doroshin, the CEO at Philly Fighting COVID, took home a ziplock bag-full of vaccines. Stuffed them in his bag and left with them.”

Doroshin is also under fire over photos that circulated on Snapchat appearing to show him administering the vaccine to friends offsite, at a private residence. Additionally, he has defended Philly Fighting COVID against criticism over switching from nonprofit to for-profit status.

Prosecutors are reportedly looking into these “concerning” allegations about the orgainzation’s handling of the vaccine.

“The Philadelphia Department of Public Health will no longer work with Philly Fighting COVID to provide testing or vaccine, effective immediately. We have recently been made aware of a change in PFC’s corporate status that took place without our knowledge, from nonprofit to for-profit,” a spokesperson for the health department told Newsweek via email. “As part of this change, PFC updated its data privacy policy in a way that could allow the organization to sell data collected through PFC’s pre-registration site.”

“The City has not been notified of any of these data having been sold. But for PFC to have made these changes without discussion with the City is extremely troubling. As a result of these concerns, along with PFC’s unexpected stoppage of testing operations, the Health Department has decided to stop providing vaccine to PFC,” the email said.

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