Heidi Gibbons, a practicing nurse, approached Action News after she failed to obtain confirmation that the registration forms she completed for her 94-year-old mother were accepted.
She wonders if her mother is in line to receive the injections. Her mother lives in an independent family home, which is not considered a retirement home in Bucks County, but she also maintains a residence in Philadelphia.
“When you sign up for these sites, you don’t get any confirmation. So it’s like putting her name in cyberspace and I really don’t know if she’s technically on a waiting list anywhere,” said Gibbons.
Gibbons is not alone. Authorities are asking people to apply through the websites of the counties where they live and work, which includes enrolling in more than one county if you live in one and work in another.
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If the county where you live and work does not have this option, register on the Pennsylvania Department of Health website.
With the new expansion of eligibility, there are now 3.5 million Pennsylvania citizens who are eligible, but there are simply not enough vaccines yet.
The Philadelphia Department of Health operates separately from the state and receives its own quota for the vaccine directly from the CDC.
Currently, they only have one “interest form”, but they still encourage people to apply. Health officials plan to use it as a starting point when more vaccines are available.
Philadelphia is operating in Phase 1B. The Commonwealth is still operating in Phase 1A.
Frustrations are not limited to registration, but also to the way people in each category are assessed.
Since healthcare professionals are included in such a wide spectrum, only healthcare professionals in the main healthcare systems are easily examined.
Someone who claims to be a home health aide is trusted by an honor system.
The same applies to underlying diseases, with the exception of cancer patients or organ donor recipients. The health department has an easier time contacting your doctors.
“To a large extent, we cannot verify most people who are passing by,” said James Garrow, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Department of Health. “We want to make the vaccine available to as many people as possible, but at the same time we don’t have enough to reach everyone.”
“Instead of looking at and checking the documentation and having to look at databases, we are taking people’s word for it,” added Garrow. “If someone who is not in one of these prioritized groups, they are taking it from someone who has cancer or who has just had an organ transplant. It is not ideal. We would love to be able to do this in a way that does not trust people’s goodwill. “
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