HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania is slowly improving when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations. Governor Tom Wolf now credits an order last month as the reason for the improvement. According to the CDC, when it comes to the percent of people who have received at least one doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Pennsylvania currently ranks 17th. The state was ranked 30th one month ago.
The order by Gov. Wolf asked providers to give out 80 percent of their vaccine doses within seven days of receiving them.
The state has given out 4.5 million doses of the vaccine; 2.9 million people have been partially vaccinated with one dose and 1.5 million people have been fully vaccinated after receiving both doses.
The use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has helped boost vaccination numbers, as people are fully vaccinated after one shot.
The state reached an all-time high of 104,000 shots into arms on Friday, March 12th, and reached more than 100,000 vaccines per day three times last week.
The Wolf Administration has committed to ensuring everyone currently eligible in Phase 1A will have access to a vaccine appointment by the end of this month, although it's currently unknown if the state will reach that goal. Lindsey Mauldin with the PA Dept. of Health told FOX43, the department is currently in talks about opening up phase 1B. As the state's vaccine supply continues to grow each week, she expects the state will be able to move through Phases 1B and 1C faster than what we've seen with 1A.
As more and more people become vaccinated, the state has amended its face covering order to align with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fully vaccinated people can now:
- Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing.
- Visit unvaccinated people from a single household who are low at risk for severe COVID-19 without wearing a mask or social distancing.
- Fully vaccinated people do not need to quarantine or test following exposure to someone with COVID-19, as long as they are not symptomatic.
However, health officials are still encouraging people who are vaccinated to take precautions, like wear a mask and social distance while in public.