Allegheny Valley Hospital doctors, nurses expected to get covid vaccine

Physicians and nurses at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison are expected to be among Allegheny Health Network’s first caregivers to receive covid-19 vaccinations Friday morning, an AHN spokeswoman said.

Spokeswoman JoAnne Clobus could not say how many employees of the Harrison hospital would be getting shots Friday.

Employees were busy Thursday working with deliveries of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires storage in ultra-cold freezers.

The health network was planning a virtual news conference from Allegheny General Hospital on Friday morning. AHN officials are expected to provide an update on the network’s distribution plans and plans for getting the vaccine to the broader community, including underserved populations, once it becomes more widely available.

They also will provide an update on hospital volumes and capacity and other operational issues related to the pandemic.

As of Wednesday, more than 2,800 people have been hospitalized with covid across the health network, including 218 people at Allegheny Valley Hospital, Clobus said.

Excela Health officials also plan to administer their first doses to staff members in Westmoreland County on Friday. The system includes Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant, Latrobe Hospital and Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg.

After emergency authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, five UPMC employees — a doctor, two nurses, a transporter and an environmental services supervisor — received Pittsburgh’s first doses of the covid-19 vaccine on Monday.