The Philadelphia Department of Public Health Monday abruptly ended its partnership with Philly Fighting COVID, a group overseeing the city’s largest coronavirus vaccination site, after the organization failed to disclose that the personal information residents entered into the group’s vaccination preregistration portal could be sold.
A health department spokesperson said the city was unaware that Philly Fighting COVID recently established a for-profit arm. It was also unaware that the website — where the city once instructed Philadelphians to preregister for the coronavirus vaccine — updated its privacy policy last week to outline the ways registrants’ personal information could be used.
“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,” James Garrow, the health department’s spokesperson, said in a statement to the Inquirer. “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.”
Garrow said the city “strongly recommends” that any Philadelphia resident interested in receiving the vaccine register with the city’s portal: https://www.phila.gov/vaccineinterest.
“By registering through this website, the Health Department will be able to contact you to set up an appointment when you are eligible and vaccine is available,” Garrow said.
Philly Fighting Covid, which oversees vaccinations at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, recently launched a website encouraging people to “Pre-Commit to Getting Vaccinated.” Once on the site, users were asked to fill out a form with their date of birth, cellphone number, occupation, race, ethnicity, number of people in their household, and medical conditions that may increase the severity of the virus. The site said it would contact them once they were eligible for a vaccine. The Philadelphia City Council seal was included on the website, until it was removed late last week.
But the site’s privacy policy, which was not publicly available until last Friday, shows the site is owned by Vax Populi, a privately-held corporation established in December by Philly Fighting COVID’s founder, Andrei Doroshin. This connection was not clear when city officials encouraged all Philadelphians to pre-commit to a vaccine through the organization.
Vax Populi, according to the site’s privacy policy, is able to share or transfer personal information in connection with any merger or sale of the company. It is also permitted to disclose this personal data with other service providers, affiliates and businesses.
“The Health Department was unaware of this company, nor its relationship to Philly Fighting COVID,” Garrow said in a statement. The organization, he said, “is not receiving any vaccine at this point.”
The end of the partnership comes after The Inquirer asked questions about Vax Populi, its privacy policy, and scrutiny from WHYY about the organization’s testing sites. Philly Fighting COVID did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Philly Fighting COVID was formed in April by Drexel University graduate student Doroshin as a nonprofit using 3D printers to make face shields for health care workers. It then moved into testing, first at the Fillmore in Fishtown, before expanding its sites to Juniata Park, Frankford, and North Philadelphia.
Doroshin also landed a spot on the city’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, as one of the 40 people tasked with advising the city on an equitable vaccine distribution.
The grand opening of Philly Fighting COVID’s mass vaccination site at the Philadelphia Convention Center earlier this month was attended by Mayor Jim Kenney, acting Deputy Health Commissioner Caroline Johnson, and council members. Last week, Philadelphia officials said the city was not actually involved with running the pre-enrollment vaccine website.
This is a developing story and will be updated. Inquirer staff writer Juliana Feliciano Reyes contributed to this article.
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City drops Philly Fighting Covid as vaccination partner after it failed to disclose for-profit arm - The Philadelphia Inquirer
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