by PublicSource Reporters
The Allegheny County Health Department confirmed 425 new COVID-19 cases and four new deaths from the virus on Thursday.
The new cases, dated Jan. 7 to Jan. 20, came from individuals ranging from 6 months old to 98 years old, with a median age of 43.
The Allegheny County Health Department is not yet equipped with enough vaccine doses to begin vaccinating the people newly added by the state to inoculation plan’s Group 1A, ACHD Director Debra Bogen said Wednesday.
“I would love to tell you that we could vaccinate all of you who now meet these expanded criteria today, but the reality is that the current vaccine supply makes this unachievable at this time,” Bogen said in a press briefing.
Bogen explained that in the past two weeks, Pennsylvania distributed 200,000 vaccine doses per week. Allegheny County received fewer than 20,000 of these per week.
“Until the vaccine supply greatly expands, all those in Phase 1, please be patient,” she said.
The problem lies squarely with a lack of vaccine doses, as the county has plenty of providers for administering the vaccine.
“And judging by the number of calls, messages and emails over the last 24 hours alone, there won’t be a shortage of people who want those vaccines,” Bogen said. “Which is great.”
Phase 1B of the vaccination plan previously included individuals 75 and older and those with serious health conditions. But now Phase 1A has been expanded to include those 65 and older as well as individuals with serious health conditions. (See below for more details.) As a result, anyone still classified as being in Phase 1B of the vaccine roll-out will have to wait longer, according to Bogen. Individuals still in Phase 1B include grocery, education, transit and U.S. Postal Service workers.
Allegheny County Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen (courtesy of Allegheny County)
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Changes in vaccine plan may slow delivery to some workers, says Allegheny County’s top doc
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