October 21, 2026
Courtenay Harris Bond/PhillyVoice
Dr. Kendra McDow, the School District of Philadelphia's medical director, discusses educational material included in a new citywide initiative to connect young people with resources to quit vaping.
Harmony Ellis became an advocate for students who want help quitting vaping when she was a freshman at Freire Charter High School in Rittenhouse.
"In school, it's (vaping) every day in the bathroom," said Ellis, who is now a senior. "It makes me want to use the bathroom less because you bring anything in the bathroom and someone else is vaping, everyone has to be searched. It's an uncomfortable thing to have to get pat down and searched for absolutely no reason when you're not the one vaping."
MORE: Pennsylvania's ban on most e-cigarette products begins soon
Ellis also has friends who are "dealing with major health issues because of vaping," she said Wednesday, after a news conference announcing a citywide initiative to connect youth with resources to quit vaping.
"Vaping is just as bad, if not worse, than smoking cigarettes," Philadelphia Health Commissioner Palak Raval-Nelson said. "Every kid, if I could pull the vape out of their hands, I would, but I can't."
Instead, the health department has joined with the School District of Philadelphia, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the EX Program at the Mayo Clinic to connect youth with resources for quitting. Their "Don't Get Finessed Campaign" – slang for don't get duped, robbed or tricked – is a social media push encouraging youth who are ready to quit to text "KickTheVape" to 88709 to be connected to free, 24/7, confidential support.
The campaign is part of a larger "Kick the Vape" initiative that will have multiple, related campaigns in the coming years to educate people about the dangers of vaping and help them find ways to quit.
Smoking rates have been on a steep decline in the United States in recent years, down among adults from 42.6% in 1965 to 11.6% in 2022 and down among youth from 36.4% in 1997 to 3.8% in 2021, according to the American Lung Association. But vaping has increased, and Philly and other municipalities have filed lawsuits accusing e-cigarette manufacturers of marketing their products to youth.
More young people vape in Philadelphia than in any other major city in the United States, according to survey data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2025, more than 20% of high school students in Philadelphia reported vaping in the past year, and 3 out of 10 have said they have used a vape product at least once.
Harmony Ellis, 17, is a Philadelphia student advocating for non-judgmental help for youth who want to quit vaping.
In an effort to keep vape products away from children and adolescents, Pennsylvania is starting to enforce a new ban on most vape and e-cigarette products, which are heavily loaded with nicotine and other chemicals. Nicotine is addictive and other ingredients may pose serious health risks, including asthma, popcorn lung, increased blood pressure and withdrawal.
Though a traditional pack of cigarettes contains 20 cigarettes and about 22 milligrams of nicotine, a JUUL pod contains the equivalent of 37 cigarettes and 41 milligrams of nicotine, a VUSE pod contains the equivalent of 82 cigarettes and 90 milligrams of nicotine and an Elf Bar, rebranded as EBCreate, contains the equivalent of 590 cigarettes and 650 milligrams of nicotine, the city's new campaign states.
"If I had to match the potency of one of these devices, kids would be wearing four or five (nicotine) patches," said Dr. Samara Jinks-Chang, attending physician and associate director of CHOP's Adolescent Specialized Treatment and Recovery Team, also known as A-Start.
Research has shown that a three-pronged approach to addressing youth vaping, including text-based support, medication and behavioral interventions, can significantly increase abstinence rates, Jinks-Chang said.
The website for the new campaign, funded through multiple sources, offers young people information about the dangers of vaping and connects them with the EX text program, CHOP's A-Start program and other resources.
"I just think it has to be a full-court press," Jinks-Chang said. "I mean, (the Sixers) beat the Knicks last night. We didn't do that just by, you know, not having everyone engaged. So that's why I think the health department, the school district, other community organizations – everybody has to be involved."
Ellis said it was important that students don't feel judged when they seek help. Dr. Kendra McDow, the school district's medical officer, agreed.
"We are really focused on making sure that students who are coming to trusted staff feel supported, that this is not something that is punitive," McDow said.
The school district's tobacco- and vape-free schools policy offers students who are caught vaping the option to go through a tobacco prevention curriculum instead of being suspended, McDow said.
