Since midday on Tuesday, Chuck Kray’s pharmacy has been receiving 5 to 6 calls per minute related to COVID-19. That’s when Pennsylvania officially expanded the vaccine’s eligibility to include everyone over 65 and younger people with chronic illnesses.
The problem is that there is not enough vaccine to meet the demand. Not enough places and people.
“There is no way for the system to handle this. I can barely fill the prescriptions right now, ”said Kray, the president of Hershey Pharmacy and HersheyCare in Dauphin County.
Kray, also president of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists’ Association, said he heard the same from colleagues, including one in Pittsburgh.
“This is happening across the state. There is not enough vaccine to open it anytime soon. It’s just creating chaos, ”he said.
Kray and others said they were not prepared for the state’s expanded eligibility announcement, which came in response to last week’s federal government recommendation, which in turn sparked public pressure.
“The changes in the health department really took us by surprise,” said Laurel Spagnolo, director of development and community involvement at Sadler Health Center in Carlisle, a federally supported clinic that serves many lower-income people.
She said the ad “really opened the floodgates” on demand. Sadler had previously vaccinated, for the most part, local health professionals who are not connected to a major health system, such as local dentists and EMS teams.
On Wednesday morning, Sadler was putting newly qualified people on a waiting list.
“We don’t know when we will be able to vaccinate anyone else in the community,” said Spagnolo, noting that the vaccine supply is “very limited”.
Tuesday’s move expanded the number of Pennsylvania citizens eligible for the vaccine to 3.5 million people. The COVID-19 vaccine, which started arriving in the state shortly before Christmas, was previously limited to frontline health professionals and nursing home residents.
Pennsylvania had received just under 1.1 million doses as of Wednesday morning, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state has not yet finished vaccinating its health professionals and long-term residents. In addition, state officials said the CDC often lists the vaccine that is being distributed before it actually reaches the state.
It was unclear on Wednesday morning how many doses there are in Pennsylvania. A senior state official, announcing the increase in eligibility on Tuesday, said supply would be a problem.
A map of the state health department shows locations, including many local pharmacies, where people can call to schedule a vaccination appointment. The map was not working at some points on Wednesday morning.
In addition, some places designated as having a vaccine available still restrict the supply to health professionals, according to people who called.
The health department did not immediately respond to questions asked on Wednesday.
At the Keystone Health Center in Chambersburg, another federally supported clinic in Chambersburg, healthcare professionals were still receiving top vaccine priority, said Dr. Raghavednra Tirupathi.
Many in the newly expanded group are calling, “but we don’t have the vaccine or the bandwidth,” he said, although he hopes it will change quickly.
WellSpan Health began accepting vaccine orders at about 20 locations last Tuesday.
“We received a high level of interest and our plans and schedules depend on a continuous and adequate supply from the state. Given the current supply restrictions seen across the country and with schedules filling up quickly, we may need to adjust these schedules accordingly if supply becomes an issue, ”said spokesman Ryan Coyle in an email early in the morning. Wednesday.
Kray, Hershey’s pharmacist and president of the association, said it was a mistake to expand eligibility without having a stronger offer. Pennsylvania, like all other states, depends on the federal government for vaccines.
Kray said his pharmacy, which received about 2,000 requests for vaccines on Tuesday, expects just 300 doses this week.
New President Joe Biden has set a goal to vaccinate 100 million Americans during his first 100 days in office – a goal that some consider overly optimistic, given the available supply. However, vaccines from one or more additional manufacturers are expected to be available next month or later. Experts say that about 170-200 million Americans will need to be vaccinated to counter the COVID-19 threat.
Biden also said he could use the defense production law to speed up production.