The Allegheny County Health Department is once again expanding vaccine eligibility in locations administered by the county, with immediate effect.
The department was vaccinating only people aged 65 and over until last Friday, when eligibility was expanded to include people aged 50-64 with certain medical conditions. This marks the second expansion of eligibility that the county health department has made in less than a week.
With immediate start, the department will also vaccinate people between 16 and 64 years old with Phase 1A medical conditions with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and people between 18 and 64 years old with these conditions with the Modern vaccine.
The medical conditions included in Phase 1A of Pennsylvania include cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, obesity and many others.
“We are excited and relieved to see that we have reached 65% of people aged 65 and over who live in the county with vaccinations, and the 50-64 age group with underlying health problems is also on track to be vaccinated with 35% of that population received at least one injection, ”said Dr. Debra Bogen, county health director. “As vaccines become more abundant, we are seeing demand in these age groups decrease as well, and therefore we are again expanding eligibility for county (dispensation points) to be able to vaccinate even more in our community.”
Appointments are required for all locations in the county, which include Castle Shannon VFD Banquet Hall, Central Baptist Church in Pittsburgh’s Hill district, Peterson Events Center in Oakland and Ross Community Center gym in Ross Township. The health department is also finalizing plans for a location in the Mon Valley and the western part of the county.
Appointments until April 2 were made available earlier this week. Appointments are announced through Allegheny Alerts and then published on the county’s COVID Vaccine page. Residents can also schedule by phone via the department’s 2-1-1 line.
The municipality will launch a new vaccine registration system, for appointments after April 2, next week.
Teghan Simonton is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. You can contact Teghan at 724-226-4680, [email protected] or via Twitter .
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