By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The Allegheny Health Network informs that it suspends the scheduling of the vaccination of COVID-19 for the general public due to the low available stock.
Wilson’s Pharmacy is one of the few in the state to administer the vaccine to the general public, and Dolores Hison considers herself lucky.
“I was shocked to come today and find out that he was with him,” she said.
But don’t get your hopes up. Although the pharmacy is now vaccinating members of the general public aged 65 and over, pharmacist Jeff Wilson says he runs out of his Modena vaccine stock as soon as the stock arrives through the door.
“We will probably be out at the end of the day,” he said.
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It is the same across the state and nation. The distribution network of pharmacies, clinics and hospital systems say they are ready to vaccinate the general public, but supply has declined.
Having vaccinated all of its frontline health professionals, outside doctors and first responders, the Allegheny Health Network was vaccinating people aged 75 and over. But on Friday, AHN paused the schedule until more supplies arrived.
“Think of it as a cinema. When you sell tickets to a theater, you can’t fit anyone. When you can open another theater, you can attract more people. Basically, when we have more supplies, we’ll open more places, ”said Donald Whiting, chief medical officer at AHN.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has less than a grade to pass so far, after distributing less than half of the vaccines the state has received, and the UPMC has received some criticism for not making its supplies available to the general public until it has vaccinated all of its workers .
But Whiting says the biggest problem is the federal government’s lack of supply.
“We are very optimistic that the new government in Washington will be much quicker to get this out,” he said.
The UPMC offered its reason for vaccinating all of its workers in the following statement:
The vast majority of COVID-19 exposures by UPMC employees that result in infection or quarantine do not occur within UPMC facilities, but still have a profound impact on health operations. Vaccination of all UPMC employees is essential to our ability to continue to provide world-class care.
In a statement late on Friday, the Allegheny County Health Department announced that people 65 and older can be vaccinated at the DoubleTree Hotel in Monroeville starting on Monday. The county says a meeting is necessary and appointments will be “extremely limited”.
The clinic is open from Monday to Friday, from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm, and on Saturdays, from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
You can register for meetings for the week of January 25 using the links below:
January 25th; January 26; January 27; January 28; January 29; January 30
“The links above connect users to the PrepMod scheduling system used by ACHD and PA DOH. If a vaccination vacancy is available for a particular day, the link will redirect to a page entitled “Register for Vaccinations – DoubleTree Monroeville” with the date of the clinic. Individuals will be able to enter their information and select a time for vaccination. The selection of the vaccination schedule is the last step of the registration process. After scheduling, users will receive a confirmation email at the address informed during registration, ”informs the secretary.