The biggest obstacle has barely budged: Pennsylvania doesn’t have nearly enough COVID-19 vaccine for the roughly 3.5 million residents who badly need it because of their age or medical condition that makes them highly vulnerable.
According to federal data as of Thursday morning, Pennsylvania has given just shy of 2 million doses. About 500,000 people have received the two doses needed for full protection. The majority have gone to health care workers, including some not directly involved in medical care or working from home. The good news is that vaccination of health care workers is winding down, leaving more vaccine for non-health care workers.
Even with that, the pace remains glacial when considering vaccination began in mid-December. While Pennsylvania’s rollout is admittedly less than perfect and is being tweaked accordingly, a shortage of vaccine is the main reason so many people are waiting so long.
Pennsylvania’s vaccine supply is wholly dependent on the federal government, which allocates it to states based on a formula.
This week, Pennsylvania will receive 183,575 first doses, along with 143,275 second doses. The weekly allocation has been increasing, although slowly, with this week’s shipment about 8,000 doses more than last week.
Collectively, health care systems have been criticized for keeping too much vaccine in house, vaccinating not only their front line employees, but those who are far removed from patient care, including non-medical employees working from home.
Health care systems have countered that all their employees, such as those involved in securing supplies, are needed to enable doctors and nurses to take care of patients, and therefore warrant protection.
Still, some systems, citing the shortage of doses, have pretty much told outsiders, for now, don’t even bother to call.
In light of all that, PennLive contacted the health systems serving the Harrisburg region, to check their progress in vaccinating their employees, and to find out how much vaccine they’ve pushed out to non-health care workers.
Penn State Health
Penn State Health is “very close” to having vaccinated all its employees, with more than 80% having received one or two doses, according to Dr. Peter Dillon, the chief medical officer.
On Jan. 19, Pennsylvania expanded Phase 1A to include everyone 65 or older and people 16-64 with chronic medical conditions. Since then, Penn State Health has been contacting its oldest and most vulnerable patients to offer vaccine. As of Tuesday, it had vaccinated about 7,200 of those patients.
All told, Penn State Health as of Tuesday had vaccinated about 15,800 employees; about 1,800 independent health care and emergency medical workers; and the 7,200 high-risk patients, spokeswoman Barbara Schindo said.
UPMC
UPMC includes Dauphin County-based UPMC Pinnacle. In central Pennsylvania, it “has received little new vaccine since the expansion of Phase 1A eligible people in January,” UPMC Pinnacle spokeswoman Kelly McCall said.
Statewide, UPMC has given about 146,000 doses. That includes 7,000 doses to people in long-term care facilities; 24,600 to non-UPMC health care workers (UPMC says it has given priority to those in communities that lack medical resources); and 6,700 to people who are 65 and over and “predominantly from neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic.”
WellSpan Health
York-based WellSpan Health has given about 70,000 shots and is averaging about 10,000 per week, spokesman Ryan Coyle said. WellSpan wouldn’t say how many have gone to employees, although it noted it has about 20,000 employees. WellSpan also noted that it has booked 45,000 appointments for people in Phase 1A.
Geisinger
Montour County-based Geisinger has vaccinated about 16,000 employees, or 67% of its workforce. Of those, 62% have received the two doses needed for full protection. Geisinger spokesman Marc Stempka said: “To date, 70% of Geisinger’s vaccine doses have been provided to members of the community not employed by Geisinger.”
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February 19, 2021 at 05:20PM
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