PA Creates COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force

HARRISBURG, PA — Gov. Tom Wolf will establish a Pennsylvania COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force with members from each legislative caucus. Members will share vaccine information and communicate issues expediently to the broader General Assembly.

“We have a good working relationship with our legislators, and we know they are the eyes, ears, and voices for Pennsylvanians,” Gov. Wolf said. “The feedback they receive from their local communities is extremely important, particularly as the commonwealth continues to improve upon this once-in-a-generation vaccine rollout. Working with leaders from each caucus in the General Assembly, we are creating a task force to ensure collaboration and strengthen communications about the state’s vaccine plan.”

Task force members will represent their caucus’s point-of-view and work to streamline conversations to focus and drive issues of importance, according to an announcement from the governor's office.

"Wolf Administration members will serve as task force members with the subject matter expertise to listen, collaborate and provide information, answers and suggestions to solve problems in a timely manner," the announcement said.

Members of the task force include co-chairs Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam and Director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Randy Padfield; for the Senate Democratic Caucus, Sen. Art Haywood; for the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Bridget Kosierowski; for the Senate Republican Caucus, Sen. Ryan Aument; and for the House Republican Caucus, Rep. Tim O’Neal.

Pennsylvania's vaccine rollout has been slower than most other states, a recent New York Times analysis found. RELATED: PA Officials Give COVID Vaccine Update, Addressing Bumpy Rollout

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