Pennsylvania on Friday released an updated coronavirus vaccination plan that makes more people eligible to be shot in the early stages of the launch.
Healthcare workers and nursing home residents remain at the helm of the line, followed by people aged 75 and over and “essential workers” such as police officers, grocery store employees and teachers.
With COVID-19 continuing to rage across Pennsylvania, health officials warned that the state is still months away from having enough doses of the two vaccines approved to inoculate the general public.
“I know it’s hard to ask, but we have to be patient,” Dr. Rachel Levine, the state secretary of health, said Friday. “It will be a few months until this vaccine is available to everyone.”
To date, the federal government has allocated more than 827,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to Pennsylvania. More than 235,000 shots have been fired, though Levine said the actual number is sure to be higher because reports by hospitals and pharmacies are delayed by one to three days.
Doctors, nurses and other health workers, and residents and staff of nursing homes and long-term care facilities (a group of about 1 million) are ruining their lives. sleeves first. State officials have not provided a timeline for when this initial phase of the vaccination campaign, which began last month, ends.
Then, under the state’s revised vaccination plan, there are people 75 and older and essential front-line workers, a huge and diverse group that includes clergy; first aid; prison guards; school staff; and workers in food, manufacturing, post office, public transportation, and grocery stores.
After that, eligibility will be extended to people aged 65 to 74, those with serious health problems, and another large group of workers in industries ranging from banking to energy.
Representative Aaron Kaufer R-Luzerne said high-risk Pensilvans should move to the state’s priority list.
“I am absolutely dismayed that Governor and Dr. Levine have shown such little care and low priority to residents who have high-risk medical conditions in developing their COVID-19 vaccination plan,” Kaufer said in a press release.
Levine said the state’s vaccination plan follows the recommendations of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At a briefing on Friday, he predicted it could be late spring or summer before the state is ready to offer the vaccine to anyone who wants it.
“This will take time, but a future will come without COVID-19,” said its chief, Governor Tom Wolf.
The state reported more than 10,000 new confirmed cases of the virus on Friday, the most in several weeks, likely indicating the start of a post-holiday wave, according to Levine. The state has been making an average of about 7,500 new cases a day.
Geisinger, one of the state’s largest health systems, said he continues to experience high rates of infections and hospitalizations. The figures are “consistent with what was expected during the full-fledged community outreach,” Dr. Jaewon Ryu, CEO of Geisinger.
Geisinger said he has been administering more than 1,000 vaccines a day, inoculating about half of his workers, and expects to have given initial doses to about 19,000 people by the end of next week.