Mayor Jim Kenney is under scrutiny for how he has handled the COVID-19 vaccine for the city of Philadelphia. Kenney let recent startup Philly Fighting COVID help with the distribution of the vaccine throughout the Philadelphia region. The start-up was created by a 22-year-old Drexel graduate student, Andrei Doroshin, where he helped with PPE materials for hospitals. Doroshin, with a group of friends, used 3D printing to make face shields for hospital workers. According to the media outlet Slate, the group focused on ways to try and get as many people tested in the city as possible. This came to a couple of months after they started making the PPE, so the rate at which the organization was moving was incredibly fast.
Nina Feldman, a reporter for WHYY, said in an interview with Slate that the situation with Philly Fighting COVID was too good to be true.
“Pretty soon, hearing Doroshin talk, little things he was saying started making my ears perk up,” Feldman said. “He claimed to be doing half of the city’s testing at one point, and the numbers he gave to support that just didn’t match up with what half of the city’s testing numbers would be.”
Doroshin was a psychology major who had no background in anything dealing with healthcare. The graduate student on Oct. 7 showed a PowerPoint to 15 people who worked for the non-profit that showed how the vaccination system would occur.
“We’re gonna have a preemptive strike on vaccines and basically beat everybody in Philadelphia to it,” Doroshin said.
Doroshin quickly gained the trust and respect of notable names in Philadelphia, like famous rapper Meek Mill, who lives in the city. He also made national television appearances like on NBC’s “Today” show. He was everywhere preaching about how his organization was fresh air from the typical pharmaceutical companies.
“We’re engineers, we’re scientists, computer scientists, we’re cybersecurity nerds. We think a little differently than people in health care do,” Doroshin said in the interview. He was able to land a deal with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and Jim Kenney on Jan.9.
Over the course of the month, Philly Fighting COVID was not able to verify its process on the goal of equity for the COVID-19 vaccine. According to WHYY, the organization also reorganized and renamed itself as Vax Populi. With the name change came the change from non-profit to for-profit. After the investigation’s findings went public, the organization stopped all of its operations. This left partners needing help from them out to dry.
This led the Philadelphia officials to cut ties with the group and figure out what went wrong with their decision. Doroshin held a press conference in his apartment lobby denying all the claims that were published.
“I have yet to find out why they cut ties, but I strongly believe there should be an investigation into the reason for this … into why we were cut out,” Doroshin said. “I don’t know who’s behind this, but I do know Dr. Farley is the one who made the call.”
Doroshin also called for the resignation of Philadelphia Department of Health commissioner Thomas Parley. The way he maneuvered through questions and chose his words carefully created more suspicion.
Joshua Pilla, a sophomore engineering major at Drexel, said that this is surreal to see happen.
“What [Doroshin] did is what you see in the movies,” Pilla said. “It is similar to the doctor who faked everything and was arrested for fraud.”
Mayor Kenney has since apologized and is still looking into how the officials were fooled by the nine-month startup.
