Pa. residents 65 and older eligible for covid vaccine but most providers don't have supply

Pennsylvania will prioritize people 65 and older and others with certain conditions for covid-19 vaccination, though many providers say the supply of vaccine is so low they cannot begin vaccinating any more groups.

Cindy Findley, deputy secretary of Health and head of the state’s covid-19 vaccine task force, said Tuesday the addition of those groups means there are more than 3.5 million Pennsylvanians eligible to be vaccinated in Phase 1A of the state’s vaccination plan.

“It will be challenging because we haven’t received additional vaccine doses. However, we are recognizing that we want to go with the 65 and older (group) and those 16 to 64 (with health conditions) to vaccinate our most vulnerable in Pennsylvania as quickly as we can,” Findley said in a virtual news conference.

The state’s 1A phase of vaccination initially included most health care employees as well as residents in long-term care facilities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week it was recommending new groups — anyone 65 or older and anyone else with certain health conditions — be added to states’ first priority group.

That leaves states that are in short supply of vaccines with thousands more who are now eligible.

Dr. Debra Bogen, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, said the department will continue to prioritize those who were listed in the original Phase 1A of the vaccination plan — mainly health care workers.

She said in Allegheny County there are still 57,500 people with 2,269 employers still awaiting vaccination, something attributable to the area’s “higher than average number of people who fall into Phase 1A.”

Bogen said the supply of vaccine received each week varies but has remained relatively low.

“Accordingly, the department will continue to prioritize those in the original Phase 1A group for the time being,” she said, noting that anyone who isn’t eligible and shows up at a county vaccination site will be turned away.

She said the department will begin revising its vaccination plans in the coming weeks to prioritize groups beyond health care workers when there is more access to the vaccine. Those groups will include residents 75 and older and those who are 65 or older and have certain health conditions.

There are roughly 234,000 people older than 65 living in Allegheny County, according to data from the U.S. Census.

Health systems, too, face similar issues. Allegheny Health Network will expand eligibility to a small subset of the wide swath of residents added to Phase 1A: those 75 or older who have received cancer treatment in the past year.

Dr. Imran Qadeer, chief medical officer for Allegheny General Hospital, said the goal is to “vaccinate as many people as we can as quickly as possible” in the coming days and weeks.

“As supplies of the vaccine allow, we will subsequently make it available to additional vulnerable populations age 75 and older, including out-of-network patients, before moving on to other groups,” Qadeer said.

At UPMC, officials said they are ready to vaccinate but the lack of vaccine stands in the way, and spokeswoman Gloria Kreps said the health system has not received any more doses than those that were allotted for health care workers and long-term care facility residents.

“I don’t think that there’s any hesitation that we’re ready,” said Dr. Alfred L’Altrelli, the administrative director of pharmacy at UPMC Presbyterian. “Hopefully this strategy allows for release of more doses.”

Excela Health in Westmoreland County also does not have enough vaccine doses to begin vaccinating beyond health care workers, officials said in a statement.

“While the state has just announced that individuals age 65 and over or those with a condition that puts them at risk for severe disease can now be immunized,” the statement read, “our present supply of vaccine does not allow us to inoculate this group at this time.”

Health care workers in Phase 1A are asked to email covidvaccineqa@excelahealth.org with their name, occupation and employer.

In terms of vaccine supply, providers rely on the state for allocations of the vaccine, and states are at the mercy of the federal government. Those with Operation Warp Speed determine when states receive deliveries of vaccine and how much is in each delivery.

Department of Health officials said those who qualify should start the appointment process by checking a map of vaccine providers on the department’s website. As of Tuesday afternoon, the providers that have received the vaccine locally consisted mostly of hospital-affiliated facilities, a handful of Rite Aid locations and some community-based health centers and pharmacies.

From there, officials said, those eligible should reach out to the specified contact listed for that location. They also released an eligibility test to help people determine whether they are, in fact eligible.