The weather delivered another blow to Pennsylvania’s vaccine supply this week, with state health officials saying on Thursday that no Modern vaccines were sent on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, and very little Pfizer vaccine was sent during that time.
“There will be a significant backlog of orders for distribution as a result of the adverse weather,” said Lindsey Mauldin, senior consultant with the Department of Health.
Jasmine Reed, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement that vaccine shipments would be delayed across the country.
“Transport partners are working to deliver the vaccine whenever possible, depending on local conditions, but the adverse weather should continue to impact shipments from FedEx facilities in Memphis, as well as UPS facilities in Louisville, which serve as centers transport vaccines to various states, ”said Reed in a statement released by NBC News.
Locally, Mauldin said that Pennsylvania’s snowy weather this week could mean that the vaccine that was sent out this week will take time to reach suppliers.
The news comes a day after acting health secretary Alison Beam said that some vaccine providers in the state had used the dedicated second injection doses of Moderna for weeks as first doses, leading to a flow of orders for second doses that exceeded all the state’s stock of Moderna for the week.
That misstep, she said, could mean that up to 60,000 second dose consultations across the state can be postponed for one to two weeks, although Beam has promised that everyone who received the first dose will receive their second dose within 42 days. recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The confusion can also affect up to 55,000 appointments for the first dose in the coming weeks.
Mauldin asked those with an appointment for the first or second dose to consult the provider before the consultation.
Department spokesman Maggi Barton said the delay in shipments should not take any Pennsylvania citizen past the 42-day mark for his second attempt.
The authorities said that, by postponing the second dose consultations for one or two weeks, it would take about three weeks to correct the shortage caused by the providers that distribute the second doses as first doses. Barton said the deadline will be true despite the delay in shipments because the distribution has not changed.
Consecutive supply strikes come as concern continues to grow over the perceived slow pace of vaccine launch in Pennsylvania. As of Thursday, 1.83 million doses of the vaccine have been administered. This is out of the 2.77 million doses the state has received so far.
A spokesman for Rite Aid, part of the federal partnership with retail pharmacies, said the weather and other supply issues had a slight impact on vaccine appointments.
“The disruption of supply caused us to reschedule a limited number of appointments this week at selected Rite Aid locations,” said Chris Savarese. “We have already contacted the affected individuals and their commitments have been automatically rescheduled to the earliest possible date.”
Savarese said that if someone did not receive a call about rescheduling, then their consultation was not affected.
The problems did not affect pharmacist Alex Micklow because Vandergrift Health Mart Pharmacy – along with its family of pharmacies in Leechburg, Lower Burrell and Bloomfield – has not yet been approved to be a supplier.
“It is not affecting us in the supply, because we have not yet received anything in the first doses,” he said, indicating that there were some problems with the request to become a provider.
“We just want to make the app and put it into practice,” he said. “People are still desperate (for the vaccine) – that’s the sad part.”
There are about 4 million residents in the first phase of the state’s vaccination plan, which includes most health professionals, anyone aged 65 and over, residing in long-term care facilities and people aged 16 to 64 with certain conditions underlying health conditions.
Most of the residents eligible for the vaccine were left to call and e-mail providers in their area to make appointments or join a waiting list.
State lawmakers this week introduced the Vaccine Registration Act, legislation that would require the Department of Health to create a database of residents who are eligible and want the vaccine.
Providers would then be required to use the registry and prioritize those in it when scheduling appointments, in accordance with the legislation, which was introduced by Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, an Erie Democrat. Co-sponsors include Reps. Austin Davis, D-McKeesport and Pam Snyder, D-Carmichaels.
“Our constituents are scared and our suppliers are confused,” Davis said in a statement. “We must create a way to channel energy and interest in the vaccine into a more functional process and this legislation will achieve that goal.”
State health officials say the central issue remains the limited supply of vaccines, not the appointment system.
Megan Guza is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. You can contact Megan at 412-380-8519, [email protected] or via Twitter .
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