The state wants leaders to choose a site for the clinic. Officials in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties said a regional clinic would jeopardize fair distribution of vaccines.
“Instead of working with local elected officials and health departments in the country closest to the people we serve, the state chose to seek the advice of a logistics company in Boston to establish regional territories, as our local mass vaccination sites are underutilized, we have a highly qualified public health and safety team in place, high volume places secured, and more than 500,000 people waiting on our collective lists to get their shots in. We just have more stock necessary, “reads a portion of the statement.
The four provinces in southeastern Pennsylvania want the state to allocate its surplus supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine directly to provinces.
For weeks, leaders of provinces in southeastern Pennsylvania have called the state, saying they have not received the right award based on the size of their population.
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The state has previously called it ‘false accusations’ and blamed the data, saying it is not accurate as some factors have not been taken into account.
State Rep. Frank Farry, a Republican representing parts of Bucks County, is one of the outspoken lawmakers who disagrees with the state’s one-stop plan.
He even introduced a bill requiring the state to distribute the vaccine based on population size.
“Our provinces have already set up the infrastructure. They already have regional staff staffed. They have a portal where people are logged in. Now, I assume, are you going to have people log on to another portal?” says Farry at his district office in Middletown.
Acting Secretary Alison Beam said during a press conference on Thursday that the provinces will also have their own websites.
Beam applauded the providers, including healthcare systems and retail pharmacies, by also administering the vaccine as part of a federal program where the vaccine is sent directly to them and recorded by the state.
According to a press release from the State Department of Health:
“An analysis of CDC data on the number of vaccines administered in the past week (up to March 17 per 100,000 per population) places Pennsylvania in second place in the country behind New Mexico alone. More than 3.9 million doses of vaccine has been administered across the state; more vaccine has been administered than 44 other states. More than 1.3 million people have been fully vaccinated. “
Late Thursday, a state task force set up to deal with the distribution of vaccines met. Sources say the governor’s office could offer a compromise that would include at least one additional mass vaccination site for southeastern Pennsylvania.
All state websites are managed by PEMA and the National Guard.
Read the full joint statement on behalf of Provinces of Southeastern Pennsylvania:
We are very disappointed to hear that PA DoH is not considering our request to share the Johnson and Johnson vaccine directly with Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery. We have reiterated our concern about setting up a local PEMA website for many reasons, and we are still concerned that fair distribution on such a website would be jeopardized.
“Instead of working with local elected officials and health departments in the country closest to the people we serve, the state chose to seek the advice of a logistics company in Boston to establish regional territories, as our local mass vaccination sites are underutilized, we have a highly qualified public health and safety team in place, high volume places secured, and more than 500,000 people waiting on our collective lists to get their shots in. We just need more supplies .
“The opening of a separate state-controlled vaccination site raises very important questions that our residents deserve to know the answers to, such as having to pre-register on another list to receive the vaccine at these new local vaccination sites, or if their current locations will be kept in line.We also have questions about how the state will ensure fair access to these regional sites, including options for telephone registration and language access.These questions have yet to be answered.The last thing we want is to to see our voters sign up for another list as they wait weeks.
“We are also concerned that our efforts to vaccinate our most vulnerable residents effectively, without an allotment of single-and-again vaccines Johnson and Johnson, will be hampered. This includes residents experiencing homelessness, home-bound individuals and people within our correctional facilities.
“For all these reasons, we request Pennsylvania DoH to allocate its surplus of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine directly to provinces.
“Recognizing that the decision will be taken by Pennsylvania DoH and to meet the requirement that the four counties provide two sites acceptable to all counties, Bucks County and Montgomery County will identify a common site and Chester County and Delaware County will identify a common site, hoping that Pennsylvania DoH will further address our request to enable the four counties to distribute the vaccine, each province is also identifying an additional site he willing to manage, which it can spread part of the vaccine. ‘
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