Montgomery County Vaccine Updates: Delays, Clinic Closures, More

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — It was another tough week for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Montgomery County, as winter weather coupled with further organizational deficiencies compounded an already difficult situation.

Shipments of both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were delayed due to the storms this week, with no shipments being sent on multiple days.

The county continues to receive a decreased number of doses, as the wait line grows.

Here's what you need to know:

Wait line now at 165K, as clinics temporarily close again

Another week, another significant extension of the wait line.

The line to receive to a vaccine in the county now includes 165,320pre-registered individuals in the 1A category. That's an increase of around 12,000 from just a week ago, and 25,000 from two weeks ago, meaning that many more people continue to sign up than are being vaccinated.

For the second week in a row, a dose shortage led the county shut down both its Norristown Area High School vaccine clinic and the Montgomery County Community College clinic in Blue Bell. The college site, used to administer second doses, reopened Friday. The high school plans to reopen Monday. Officials said that weather was also a factor contributing to the decision to close.

The county is still reliant on supplies from the state, which dwindled the past two weeks due to a growing number of providers statewide.

Moderna mixup

News broke Wednesday that a significant number of second doses of the Moderna vaccine were mistakenly given as first doses by providers statewide, which will cause roughly 30,000 to 60,000 appointments to be canceled and rescheduled.

"I was surprised, furious, and disappointed," Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh said on Wednesday, reacting to when she was told of the situation. "Because we have been assured repeatedly that those second doses would be there for us, and as a consequences, we have been giving out our first doses as quickly as possible."

Regardless, state officials have assured the public that even if appointments must be delayed, they will be rescheduled within the maximum time frame between two doses, which is 42 days.

There are nearly 5,300 second doses scheduled to be administered in the county next week. While additional shipments are expected, it's still unknown how many doses will be in those shipments, and if it will be sufficient to cover everyone scheduled. Therefore, it's unknown how many county residents will potentially be impacted. The county will contact those who made an appointment if it must be rescheduled.

More doses are coming, but not just yet

The state announced two weeks ago that county health departments would be receiving larger shipments of supplies, as they introduced plans to reduce vaccine providers statewide from 1,700 to around 200. This would prevent the vaccine from being spread too thin, which is one of the main reasons Montgomery County has been receiving fewer doses.

And while there is definitely more vaccine coming, it could be eight weeks until these "dramatic increases" are realized, officials said Wednesday. Between now and then, the amount received each week will be variable and unpredictable.

"We are getting tiny amounts of vaccine into the county each week" in comparison to the need, Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh reiterated.

Line jumping issue resolved

A bit of good news: following the reports in recent weeks that untold numbers of Montgomery County residents were sharing vaccine registration links, officials have found a fix to the system that allowed such cheating.

A new single-use token will be given to book vaccine appointments, replacing the previous PrepMod system which had been manipulated by a large number of people.

Those making appointments must bring the unique token number with them when they arrive for their appointment. Because the token number is connected to an individual's name, it cannot be shared.

It's not clear exactly how many people have butted in line in this manner, but officials noted that it's a problem that has grown over the past several weeks as the more vaccine registration links are sent out to the general over-65 population.

How To Sign Up

You can pre-register for a vaccine appointment here if you are in the 1A group.

Due to limited supplies, it may be up to 12 weeks before you hear back about confirming an appointment. Don't panic; if you pre-registered, your name is in the system.

Where are you in line?

Anywhere from 1,300 to 2,700 new registrants have signed up for a vaccine every day in the county in recent weeks. To find where you are in line, you can compare the date you registered to these statistics on daily new registrants.

Who is eligible to get the vaccine now?

Montgomery County, like the rest of Pennsylvania, remains in Phase 1A of the state's four-phase rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. Originally, that meant the only people eligible for a vaccine were healthcare workers and residents and employees of nursing homes and other care facilities. Now, it's been expanded to include anyone over the age of 65, and those between 16 and 65 with serious underlying medical conditions.

The state's new "YourTurn" online tool aims to help residents find out where they stand within the state's vaccine priority groups.

Why are teachers and police officers still unable to get the vaccine?

Teachers, police officers, and other essential workers are in the 1B category. The state, when pressed on the issue, says they remain committed to vaccinating all of 1A first.
Numerous Pennsylvania education associations, including conglomerates of school boards, rural and small schools, principals, administrators, and the State Education Association, penned a letter to Gov. Wolf this week 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.

The letter goes on to note that 26 other states currently prioritize school staff members in the vaccination plans, but not Pennsylvania.

When will the vaccine be available to the general public?

Officials have no updated estimate as to when the state may be ready to move into the 1B phase, though they reiterated hopes previously expressed by Gov. Tom Wolf that the vaccine could be available to the general public by spring or summer.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, however, said this week on the Today show that April could be "open season" for the vaccine, with the potential of availability for all groups by then.

There are some 250,000 individuals in the 1A category in Montgomery County.

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