PA Sets New Vaccine Policies Aimed To Expedite Rollout

PENNSYLVANIA — After facing weeks of concerns and mounting frustrations over their COVID-19 vaccination plan, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced significant policy changes Friday afternoon.

Chief among those changes is a new mandate requiring all vaccine providers across the state to administer 80 percent of the first doses they receive within the first seven days of delivery of those doses. The state has also dramatically reduced the total number of providers who will receive vaccine. While that number had been as high as 1,700 providers earlier this week, it will be "progressively" decreased to around 200 to 300 in the coming weeks, officials said.

"The provider network will be limited to those who have demonstrated success," Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said Friday.

Primarily, this means that doses previously allocated to primary care physician offices and other smaller providers during the first phases of 1A will now be reallocated instead to the highest performers, which includes county health departments, healthcare networks, and pharmacies. These providers will be judged over the coming weeks and will receive vaccine based on how well they comply with the state's new mandates.

Additionally, vaccine providers are now required to make appointments available both online and via phone to everyone in the 1A category.

If providers fail to meet these mandates, it could lead to the state reallocating doses to other providers who are in compliance.

"Pennsylvanians have rightly demanded easier access to appointments," Beam said, noting that the current online-only system leaves too many behind, especially seniors with limited Internet access.

State officials also addressed concerns from delegations in several counties, including Chester and Montgomery, who have argued that larger providers, like county health departments, can more efficiently distribute vaccine than smaller providers.

"First (priority) is always the county allocation," Beam said, but noted that private healthcare systems also have infrastructure in place that should be capitalized upon. "We really see this as an opportunity to allow them to align further."

Several counties, like Montgomery and Lehigh, have reported receiving drastically fewer doses over the past two weeks. Montgomery County had to shut down its mass vaccination clinic this week when it ran out of doses.

The state also reminded providers that second doses will be available to all those who have received first doses.

Pennsylvania currently sits in 43rd place in distribution efficiency nationwide, according to a New York Times analysis, having administered 63 percent of the doses it has received, and leading many to question the state's policies.

There have been 1,523,510 doses administered all told in Pennsylvania as of Friday morning, including 356,108 individuals who have received the full two doses.

Watch Friday's press briefing from the PA Department of Health below.