BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. — Note: The video is from March 2.
A group of Republican lawmakers from Bucks County have introduced legislation to require COVID-19 vaccines be distributed to counties based on population, claiming that the county has been "significantly shortchanged" in the number of doses due to the Wolf's administration's formula to determine how many doses each county receives.
The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Frank Farry (R-Langhorne) Wendi Thomas (R-Richboro), Craig Staats (R-Quakertown), Todd Polinchock (R-Chalfont), KC Tomlinson (R-Bensalem), Meghan Schroeder (R-Warminster) and Shelby Labs (R-Doylestown).
Based on the state Department of Health statistics as analyzed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the suburbs of Philadelphia, including Delaware, Montgomery and Chester counties, have received far fewer vaccine doses per 100,000 residents than more rural counties in the state, the lawmakers claim.
According to the reporting, Bucks received 13,103 doses per 100,000 residents, Montgomery received 17,667 per 100,000, Chester received 14,748 per 100,000, and Delaware received 9,113 per 100,000 residents.
Bucks County ranks third in the state in population, but ranked 34th in the state in the number of doses given, the bill's co-sponsors said.
At the same time, the lawmakers said, Montour County received more than 164,000 doses per 100,000 residents -- more doses than there are residents within the county.
Montour County ranks 61st in population, but is No. 1 in doses received, the lawmakers said.
The disparity is "outrageous," the legislators said in a joint statement Friday.
“We are dealing with issues of life and death, which is too important a decision to be left to arbitrary formulas,” the statement said. “Clearly, the residents of Bucks County are in just as much danger of contracting the virus and deserve their proportional share of vaccines, but we cannot get a straight answer on how the formula for distributing the vaccine was crafted.
"We have had conference calls, written a detailed letter and continued to express our concerns and seek answers. The concerns raised by our residents, healthcare providers and county officials have been heard. Now we are left to force responsible actions by the state’s Department of Health by mandating it through statute.
"What we are proposing is a commonsense approach that should not need to be legislated. By distributing the vaccines based on population, we will bring fairness to what is now a patently unfair system.”
House Bill 756 would also give local health departments a say in the distribution of the vaccine and make sure the vaccines get to the people within a county who are most at risk, the lawmakers said. This would reduce confusion as people would no longer have to sign up on multiple websites.
The bill also requires the state Department of Health to immediately make up for any existing shortfalls in the number of vaccines already distributed.
“The best way to get the vaccine into the arms of those who need it most is to rely on the local health departments who know their counties and residents best,” the legislation's co-sponsors said.