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Levine: Pa. needs to stay patient

Doctors in the U.K. have been delaying second doses of COVID-19 vaccines so they can give more people first doses more quickly, a strategy that has drawn attention here, but for now, Pennsylvania will stick with two doses several weeks apart, said Health Secretary Rachel Levine in a virtual news conference Monday.

“I know England has taken a different tack,” Dr. Levine said, in answer to a reporter’s question. “But it’s important to follow the science.”

That means full doses of the Pfizer vaccine three weeks apart and of the Moderna vaccine four weeks apart, she said.

Should the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the pharmaceutical firms, come up with different data, “then we’ll see,” she said.

The U.K. is delaying second doses based on “modeling of ‘the high level of protection afforded by the first dose'” — which suggests that “‘vaccinating a greater number of people with a single dose will prevent more deaths and hospitalisations than vaccinating a smaller number with two doses,'” according to an article in The Guardian, a British newspaper, citing the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

Delays of up to 12 weeks for a second dose shouldn’t affect protection, according to the committee, the article states.

The cancellation of appointments for second doses, however, has caused confusion and angered older patients in the U.K., according to the article.

In the U.S., the federal vaccination program, Operation Warp Speed, overestimated its ability to deliver vaccines, while underestimating the difficulties in administering them caused by the holidays, according to Levine.

The amounts delivered and delivery schedules have “fluctuated” from week to week, according to Levine.

Along with the need for hospitals to free up employees who have regular responsibilities so that they can administer shots, the fluctuations have made planning “challenging,” Levine said.

Thus, people need to be patient, “as we take on this unprecedented task,” she said.

But “things will be gearing up” now that the holidays are over, Levine predicted.

Critical for that gearing up in Pennsylvania will be a share of the $6 billion to $8 billion allocated in the recently signed national relief bill for states and cities to distribute and administer the vaccines, Levine said.

As the state moves through the upcoming categories in the vaccination priority list, it will need to organize mass vaccination clinics, which will mean cooperating with pharmacies, county and municipal health departments and federally qualified health centers — and contracting with health workers, according to Levine.

“The money will be essential,” she said.

While the number of people vaccinated nationally has been underwhelming, Pennsylvania is not “far behind,” Levine said. She said other states have been releasing “details” of their plans to handle future categories. “We are not really behind in any way,” she said.

The state is working on plans for those coming categories, she said.

Currently, Pennsylvania is in Phase 1a, for frontline health workers and workers and residents in long-term care; after which it will move to 1b, for police officers, teachers, grocery store workers, postal employees and those over 75; then to 1c, for those between 65 and 74 and those over 16 with high risk medical conditions, according to the AARP website.

When Phase 1b starts will depend on the flow of vaccines from Warp Speed and the progress of “getting vaccines into arms,” Levine said. “We need to be flexible and nimble,” she said, and to not “over promise.”

The department’s plans will call for people to make appointments for vaccinations, whether at vaccination clinics, local pharmacies that will be working with the department or other locations, to avoid long lines and crowds and thus minimize infection risk, according to Levine.

As of Sunday, 135,000 Pennsylvania frontline health care workers have been vaccinated under a program that hospitals and other health care providers have been administering, according to Levine.

In addition, CVS and Walgreens, under contract with Warp Speed, have completed first-dose vaccinations of residents and employees at 115 nursing homes, although the program hasn’t issued a report on how many individuals that comprises, Levine said.

Warp Speed is planning to deliver 166,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week.

Of that number, 97,000 second doses will go to hospitals for health workers who got their first doses three weeks ago, 30,000 first doses will also go to hospitals and 39,000 doses will go to CVS and Walgreens for nursing homes, Levine said.

Warp Speed is also planning to deliver 80,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, many to rural hospitals, Levine indicated.

On Wednesday, hospitals and other health care providers that have received vaccines will need to begin sharing doses with frontline health workers not affiliated with their organizations, including ambulance workers and staffers in primary care physicians’ offices, by order of Levine.

Some have started already, she said.

The providers were to set aside 10% of their allotments and create points of contact to make it easy and efficient for the non-affiliated health workers to arrange for vaccinations, she said.

The restrictions that went into place Dec. 12, including a ban on indoor dining, expired Monday morning, but earlier restrictions remain.

The department doesn’t have “a specific metric” for lifting those earlier restrictions, Levine said.

The department will watch to see if there is a “bump” of cases and hospitalizations from Christmas, Levine said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.

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