Vaccine providers across the state are expected to have all appointments scheduled for people in Phase 1A by the end of the month, acting health secretary Alison Beam said in a new order on Monday.
The order changes an earlier one from February, adding a subsection requiring providers to “make every effort” to schedule appointments for all Phase 1A individuals by March 31. or email and offer appointments. Providers can schedule appointments “for the future as needed to accommodate all Phase 1A individuals” who request them. It also requires vaccine providers to make appointments with patients outside their current patient network.
Phase 1A includes healthcare professionals, long-term care residents, anyone over 65 and those aged 16 to 64 with certain health conditions.
“This request requires that vaccine providers make every reasonable effort to meet that goal by the end of the month,” said Beam in a statement. “Providers are also encouraged to consider other barriers to vaccination, such as transportation issues, and to deal with those that our most vulnerable can access the vaccine more easily.”
Beam said suppliers were informed of the new requirements on Monday and Tuesday. The order follows Governor Tom Wolf’s comments last week, in which he said that all Phase 1A residents who so desire will have consultations in the next two weeks.
“This aggressive plan is designed to meet the goals outlined Friday by Governor Tom Wolf and members of the Vaccine Task Force Covid-19 to schedule everyone in Phase 1A, vaccinate workers in specific sectors and then move on to have everyone who wants to be vaccinated eligible by May 1, ”said Beam, referring to President Joe Biden’s goal of making all American adults eligible for the vaccine by that date.
Individuals in Phase 1A of Pennsylvania have struggled with access to the vaccine since the beginning of implementation, often due to a lack of supply to meet the needs of the broad group of eligible people. Long waiting lists – some with tens of thousands of names – have become commonplace in community pharmacies. Consultations for mass vaccination clinics conducted by many of the region’s top providers are completed in minutes.
Beam asked providers to “think through equity lenses” to make the vaccine more accessible to different populations. She also asked them to consider more options for mobile clinics.
The Department of Health will update vaccine allocation information online so residents can see which providers have vaccines and ways to access them – through clinical consultations or community events, a press release said. The department will also concentrate allocations to “those providers who can administer the vaccine more efficiently and effectively”, following Beam’s request in February.
Pennsylvania vaccine suppliers will receive a total of 278,670 first dose vaccines this week, along with 242,270 second dose vaccines. According to the Department of Health, the state has allocated nearly 4.7 million doses since December, and providers have administered more than 3.8 million injections.
Many providers in the region have already started efforts to accelerate the distribution of the vaccine, with several mass clinics being held in recent weeks by the Allegheny Health Network, Giant Eagle and UPMC, among others.
Dr. Don Yealy, chief of emergency medicine at the UPMC, said the system has already taken steps to meet the state authorities’ goal for the end of March – but noted that making appointments is a separate challenge from actually administering the doses.
“I think it is a realistic goal to schedule appointments,” said Yealy. “The main characteristic will be the effective implantation of the vaccine, and that depends on the quantity of the vaccine and who is able to supply the vaccine. We need a lot more supplies. ”
Yealy said the hospital system administered between 25,000 and 30,000 doses per week, but could make up to 80,000 if it had the supply – and if the distribution of vaccines was more consistent. He said that although the UPMC used mass vaccination clinics and other methods of distribution, he called for continued patience, even after consultations were scheduled.
“We want to make sure it is as reliable as possible,” he said. “That is, if you make an appointment, you get the vaccine. It is not canceled; nobody runs away. And I think we were very successful with that. ”
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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