The state wants leaders to choose a location for the clinic, officials in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties said a regional clinic would compromise equitable distribution of the vaccine.
“Instead of working with local elected officials and County Health Departments closest to the people we serve, the state chose to follow the advice of a Boston logistics company to establish regional locations, as our local mass vaccination locations are underutilized. We have a highly qualified public of health and safety teams installed, high-volume protected sites and more than 500,000 people waiting on our collective lists to get their vaccines. We just need more supplies, “says part of the statement.
The four counties in southeastern Pennsylvania want the state to allocate their surplus stock of Johnson & Johnson’s unique vaccine to counties directly.
For weeks, county leaders in southeastern Pennsylvania summoned the state saying that, based on the size of its population, they did not receive the proper quota.
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The state previously called these “false accusations” and blamed the data saying it was not accurate, as some factors were not considered.
State Representative Frank Farry, a Republican who represents parts of Bucks County, is one of the lawmakers who disagrees with the state’s one-location plan.
He even introduced a bill that would require the state to distribute the vaccine based on population size.
“Our counties already have the infrastructure set up. They already have regional sites already serviced. They have a portal that people have registered with. Now, I assume, are you going to have people signing up for another portal?” said Farry in his Middletown Township district office.
During a news conference on Thursday, acting secretary Alison Beam said the counties would also have their own websites.
Beam applauded providers, including healthcare systems and retail pharmacies, also administering the vaccine as part of a federal program where the vaccine is sent directly to them and registered by the state.
According to a press release from the State Department of Health:
“An analysis of CDC data on the number of vaccines administered by 100,000 of the population last week (as of March 17) places Pennsylvania in second place in the country, behind New Mexico only. More than 3.9 million doses of vaccine have been administered across the state; more vaccine administered than 44 other states. More than 1.3 million people (are) fully vaccinated. “
At the end of Thursday, a state task force set up to deal with the distribution of vaccines met. Sources say the governor’s office may offer an agreement that would include at least one additional mass vaccination site for southeastern Pennsylvania.
All state websites will be managed by PEMA and the National Guard.
Read the full joint statement on behalf of Southeastern Pennsylvania counties:
We are extremely disappointed to learn that PA DoH is not considering our request to allocate the Johnson and Johnson vaccine directly to Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. We reiterate our concerns about the establishment of a regional PEMA website for many reasons, and remain deeply concerned that equitable distribution is compromised on such a website.
“Instead of working with local elected officials and County Health Departments closest to the people we serve, the state chose to follow the advice of a Boston logistics company to establish regional locations, as our local mass vaccination locations are underutilized, we have a highly qualified public of health and safety teams installed, high-volume protected sites and more than 500,000 people waiting on our collective lists to get their vaccines, we just need more supplies.
“The opening of a separate state vaccination site raises many important questions that our residents deserve to know the answers to, how will they have to pre-register on another list to receive the vaccine in these new regional vaccination sites or if their current ones do? queue seats will be maintained. We also have questions about how the state will ensure equitable access to these regional sites, including telephone registration options and language access. These questions still need to be answered. The last thing we want to do is see our constituents for sign up for another list when they’ve been waiting for weeks.
“We also remain concerned that without an allocation of Johnson and Johnson vaccines for a single injection, our efforts to effectively vaccinate our most vulnerable residents will be undermined. This includes homeless people, individuals living at home. and people within our correctional facilities.
“For all of these reasons, we implore the Pennsylvania Department of Health to allocate its surplus stock of the Johnson and Johnson single injection vaccine to the counties directly.
“Recognizing that the decision will be made by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and to meet its requirement that the four counties provide two acceptable locations for all counties, Bucks County and Montgomery County will identify a joint location and the Chester County and Delaware County will identify a common location. Hoping that the Pennsylvania Department of Health will consider our request in more detail to allow the four counties to distribute the vaccine, each county is also identifying an additional location that is prepared. to operate and that they would be able to distribute their part of the vaccine. ”
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