Heidi Gibbons, a practicing nurse, contacted Action News after she failed to get confirmation that the registration forms she filled out for her 94-year-old mother were accepted.
He wonders if his mother is in line to receive the shots. Her mother lives in an independent living center, which is not considered a nursing home in Bucks County, but also maintains a residence in Philadelphia.
“When you make a request on these websites you don’t get any confirmation. So it’s like putting your name in cyberspace and I really don’t know if it’s technically on a waiting list anywhere,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons is not alone. Officials ask people to apply through the websites of the counties where they live and work, which includes signing up for more than one county if they live in one and work in another.
SEE: 6 questions answered about the COVID vaccine
If the county where you live and work does not have this option, register through the Pennsylvania Department of Health website.
With the new expansion of eligibility, there are now 3.5 million eligible Pennsylvanians, but there just aren’t enough vaccines yet.
The Philadelphia Department of Health operates independently of the state and receives its own vaccine assignment directly from the CDC.
Currently, they only have one “interest form,” but they still urge people to sign up. Health officials plan to use it as a starting point once more vaccines are available.
Philadelphia operates in Phase 1B. The Commonwealth still operates in phase 1A.
Frustrations are not limited to registering, but also to how people in each category are controlled.
Because health care workers are included in such a broad spectrum, only health care workers in major health care systems are easily examined.
Someone who claims to be a home health care assistant trusts a system of honor.
The same is true of the underlying conditions, with the exception of cancer patients or organ donor recipients. The health department makes it easier to contact your doctors.
“To a large extent, we can’t verify most people pass by,” said James Garrow, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Department of Health. “We want the vaccine to be available to as many people as possible, but at the same time we don’t have enough to reach everyone.”
“Instead of reviewing and reviewing documentation and having to go through databases, we’re taking it at the word of the people,” Garrow added. “If someone who doesn’t belong to any of these prioritized groups is taking it from someone who has cancer or has just had an organ transplant. It’s not ideal. We’d love to be able to do it from a way he doesn’t. ” I don’t trust the goodwill of the people. “
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