PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Pennsylvania is now catching up with the rest of the nation when it comes to administering second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. About 1.3 million Pennsylvanians are now fully vaccinated against the virus.
About 11 percent of Pennsylvanians are fully vaccinated, and about 25 percent have received their first COVID-19 vaccine. This is good news as the state can expect COVID-19 vaccine doses to continually increase in the weeks ahead, allowing more people to get the vaccine.
The state has committed to ensuring everyone currently eligible for the vaccine will be able to make an appointment by March 1st. Once that happened, the state will look into expanding eligibility.
Pennsylvania's Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam says, the DOH is focused on sending doses to a select group of 200-300 providers across the state over the next few weeks. Currently, more than 2,300 providers want to be involved in the roll out, but Beam says, the focus takes into consideration geographic reach and access for people, to meet the needs of Pennsylvanians. The select providers will include hospitals, pharmacies, and other qualified centers and public health providers.
Through this all, Beam also praised the work of mass vaccination sites across the state, including two in South Central PA.
"We are already starting to see that local leadership in places like Lancaster, Lebanon, Pittsburgh and places like the Pocono Raceway in Monroe County where local leaders are building partnerships and leveraging their skill sets to have expanding vaccination opportunities. that's what residents need to see in every corner of the state," said Acting Sec. Beam.
Like mentioned earlier, the state is making positive strides in its vaccination efforts. The state is on par with neighboring New York when it comes to population fully vaccinated, and is currently ranked 33rd by the CDC in percentage of population vaccinated.
Alaska is ranked #1 with 19 percent of its population fully vaccinated, while Utah is #50 with just about eight percent.