PA Ramping Up Efforts To Get More Seniors Vaccinated

PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania officials say community efforts are underway across the state to improve the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to senior populations, as the state continues to come under fire for its handling of the inoculation process and overall efficiency. Statistics show that the state remains among the worst in the country in percentage of doses administered.

"It's been deeply frustrating to all of us," Gov. Tom Wolf said in a news briefing Thursday. "We all know that here in Pennsylvania, we need to do better."

The state has administered 1,126,321 partial vaccinations, and 335,291 full vaccinations, as of Thursday morning.

Plans for seniors: Area Agencies of Aging

The bulk of the 4 million Pennsylvanians in the 1A vaccine priority group are residents over the age of 65.

Numerous Area Agencies of Aging (AAA) — groups, which provide resources to assist older adults with healthcare and other basic needs — are being mobilized to assist in the vaccine effort.

In Butler County, the local AAA is working directly with vaccine providers to help seniors obtain appointments.

Thus far, it's at least been effective in growing the number of registered individuals. Some 1,200 residents of the county over the age of 65 have been signed up.

“The vaccine appointment no-show rate for these older adults is zero percent," Torres said.

Over at the Southwestern AAA, which serves several counties in the southwestern corner of the state, the agency is assisting seniors who don't have a computer, and working with PennDOT to assure transportation to vaccine appointments.

They also have representatives present at vaccination sites to help monitor seniors for any side-effects after they receive shots.

In the same vein, PACE, the state's low-cost prescription program for seniors, has launched what the state is calling a "comprehensive assistance and outreach effort."

There are some 275,000 PACE enrollees in the state. There is now a dedicated scheduling unit in the Harrisburg Call Center to help those individuals arrange vaccinations.

Wolf also pointed to the recently launched YourTurn tool, which aims to provide clarity to individuals on when they'll be eligible to receive vaccine.

While these programs have seen success in registering more Pennsylvanians, it remains unclear what effect, if any, they may have on improving the actual efficiency of doses administered, or in reducing the time which residents have to wait.

Deficient efficiency

Officials suggested that direct comparisons to other states are "not accurate reporting" and that Pennsylvania faces unique demographic challenges. 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.

"Every state is different, and we all have different challenges," Wolf said. Specifically, he pointed to Pennsylvania's larger number of residents over 65, which means that there are more eligible residents in 1A waiting for the vaccine here than elsewhere. Pennsylvania has the fourth-largest total senior population nationwide, and the 9th largest percentage of seniors, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and US Census Data.

"Those are the challenges we face, but there are no excuses. We have to do better."
Meanwhile, Wolf and Secretary of Aging Robert Torres said that numerous initiatives were underway to improve distribution among the elderly.

The "unusual" task force

Wolf repeatedly cited the "unusual" bipartisan joint task force of legislative caucus members, which will begin meeting on Friday, as a strategizing environment where issues of efficiency would be addressed, and where more sweeping changes to policy might be considered.

"There's nothing that's off the table," Wolf said.

One point which consistently arises is the notion of a single, centralized vaccine registration platform, such as other states have. As things stand, residents are often registering for vaccine doses in multiple places, as there are now more than 1,700 vaccine providers statewide, adding to confusion.

Wolf said this "could" help, but expressed skepticism. Phone lines have been clogged and online registration systems have been overwhelmed, and it's not clear if this would be improved or worsened if all registrations came through a single system.

He said that it is a process of learning, and growing. He compared it to the changes made to the unemployment system at the start of the pandemic, which he noted were initially "awful" and have gotten to a point where it's "not bad."

"We need to do a better job," Wolf said, noting that some changes had been made to the website.

Special interest groups respond

While efforts are taken to get the general senior population vaccinated, certain special interest groups say that other sectors of society are being left behind.

Numerous Pennsylvania education associations, including conglomerates of school boards, rural and small schools, principals, administrators, and the State Education Association, penned a letter to Wolf urging school staff to be placed on priority lists for the vaccine.

“Ensuring that the men and women who teach and serve Pennsylvania’s children receive the vaccine as soon as possible is absolutely essential if we are to reopen our state’s schools for in-person instruction and return to normal operations when the 2021-22 school year begins," the letter reads.

It goes on to note that 26 other states currently prioritize school staff members in the vaccination plans.

State officials say they're focused for now on vaccinating those in the federal 1A category first.

The state also came under fire from the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, which argued that not enough vaccine resources had been dedicated to long term care facilities.

"We are nearly two months into the state’s vaccine rollout, and some providers are still waiting,” PHCA president and CEO Zach Shamberg said Thursday. “We continue to call on state leaders to bring our experts to the table to ensure long-term care is truly prioritized moving forward.”

Shamberg wants more than the current 18 percent of vaccine to be redirected to long-term care providers.

Wolf responded, noting that 100 percent of nursing home and staff that have wanted the vaccine have received their first dose, and 70 percent have received second doses. In long-term care facilities, 70 percent of those who have wanted a first dose have received it already. "I think the results there have been pretty good," he said.

Clarity on equity

"Equity" is a buzzword repeated by state and county officials regarding the vaccination process, and it usually refers to ensuring that historically underserved, impoverished, and minority communities have equal access to the vaccine. The state has pointed to numerous outreach efforts in these areas.

But while Pennsylvania's COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard purports to track demographics, there is a large percentage of individuals currently in the "unknown" category: some 340,000 of the 1.4 million doses administered thus far.

This raises the important question: if the demographics of a significant percentage of vaccinated individuals are not known, how can equity efforts be accurately assessed?

Officials said they're working to gain more clarity on those numbers, but they did not provide precise details on that effort Thursday.

Pennsylvanians can learn more about where they can get vaccinated and when they'll be eligible at the state Department of Health's vaccine website here.

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