If you qualify under Phase 1A for getting a covid-19 vaccination and are not a health care worker, you likely have been trying frantically to find a vaccination appointment. This can be especially frustrating for those over 75 years of age or 65 with high-risk factors, having spent the last 11 months in your home and having not seen your children or grandchildren for fear of them passing covid-19 to you.
Without a health department, Westmoreland County residents are at a severe disadvantage. There is no one person responsible to assure that the needs of our most vulnerable residents are met. Many elderly people do not have computer access to make appointments, which are difficult to come by. Many who live in high-poverty areas lack transportation.
Our county needs leaders who will work hard to serve the citizens who elected them, to develop a central vaccine registry and coordinate vaccine distribution that equally serves all county residents. We are more than a year into this pandemic, and there is no plan, no coordinated effort, no transparency, no communication. Our county leaders have failed us.
Better late than never, I urge our commissioners to serve their constituents now.
Diana Gray
North Huntingdon