A growing number of unfulfilled appointments and low enrollment among nursing home workers are early signs that vaccine hesitation is becoming a problem in Pennsylvania, prompting state officials to sound the alarm and urging residents to get their covid-19 shots as soon as possible.
After months of demand exceeding supply, vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are more available, and the Wolf government said the challenge now is to allay the concerns of people reluctant to get them.
Governor Tom Wolf and state health officials toured a community vaccination clinic in Hershey on Friday with openings. In the nearby province of Lebanon, a massive vaccination clinic reported hundreds of available slots, something that may have been unthinkable weeks ago when providers were inundated with requests but did not have enough doses to issue.
“The availability of the appointment gives us cause for concern because it indicates hesitation, which is the challenge to come,” said Alison Beam, the state’s acting health secretary, who joined a news conference at Wolf.
She said the fact that nearly half of nursing home workers in Pennsylvania turned down the vaccine is further evidence of ‘how far we have to go and how much of the challenge of overcoming this vaccine reluctance is in the will be near future. ‘
Only 53% of staff in skilled nursing homes have decided to get the vaccine, according to the health department, although the shots have been available for months.
With increasing inventory, the state expanded its suitability for everyone 16 years and older this week. To date, Pennsylvania has vaccinated more than 40% of its population, not Philadelphia, which receives its supplies directly from the federal government and operates its own vaccination program.
Wolf said he plans to get his first dose Monday in York.
“The more people are vaccinated, the safer we are all going to be and the sooner we can get out of here,” he said. “These vaccines are the way we can fight back and actually go to the life we want.”
Government officials said Friday they are planning a print and digital media campaign to get the message across.
Following the federal government, Pennsylvania this week suspended the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, while health experts are investigating a handful of rare blood clots.
The J&J vaccine has so far played a small role in the overall vaccination of the state, although the interruption has affected the programs to vaccinate targeted populations, including prisoners and law enforcement officers, as well as food and agricultural workers.