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By William Kibler
bkibler@altoonamirror.com
Gov. Tom Wolf's administration has created a COVID-19 vaccine task force that includes Republicans in the General Assembly, whose caucus has lashed out at the governor throughout the pandemic.
The task force, with one member of each party's caucus in the Senate and House, and representation from the Department of Health and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, will "share vaccine information and communicate issues and solutions on behalf of and to the broader General Assembly," a news release from the governor's office states.
"I would jump at the chance" to participate, said state Rep. Jim Gregory, R-Hollidaysburg. "It shows that the governor recognizes the need to work with the Legislature.
"(It's) a poisoned chalice," state Rep. Lou Schmitt, R-Altoona, said, accusing the governor of wanting lawmakers to share the criticism the administration has endured for the state's low ranking among states, based on doses administered vs. doses received.
It was a move the governor should have considered early in the pandemic, when the administration and the Assembly could have "come up jointly with strategies," Schmitt said.
Second doses
One of the obvious targets of the task force will be improvement of "throughput," Wolf said in a virtual news conference Tuesday, referring to his hope of improving the state's low ranking in dosage administration.
"We have to do better," the governor said.
Much of the discussion about throughput has centered on second doses, which should be administered three weeks after first doses for the Pfizer vaccine and four weeks for the Moderna vaccine.
From previous information supplied by the state, it seemed that Pennsylvania's policy of ensuring that second doses would be available to providers -- so providers needn't reserve second doses themselves -- was contributing to the problematic statistics.
The implication was that the state was holding second doses in reserve, which would mean they weren't being administered right away.
That isn't the case, according to information provided by the department Tuesday.
"The state isn't receiving and then holding second dose allocations, but is rather ordering the proper number of second doses from the federal government when it's time for them to be used by providers," after which manufactures send those doses directly to providers, wrote Department of Health spokesman Barry Ciccocioppo, so that policy doesn't cause delays directly.
But there are reporting issues connected with that policy that may be causing some of those bad stats, Ciccocioppo said.
"In order to make sure the (second) doses arrive in time, they may be part of this week's allocation, but not arrive at the vaccine provider until the end of the week and not be administered to a patient until the following week," he wrote.
Reporting time
There is also a lag in reporting time of as much as 24 hours for providers working in the state's main vaccination program and a lag time of up to 72 hours for CVS and Walgreens, which are partners with the federal government in providing vaccines for long-term care facilities, Ciccocioppo wrote.
In addition, despite repeated recent urgings to providers by the DoH not to reserve second doses, some providers may be doing just that -- causing an unnecessary redundancy and keeping doses from getting to people as quickly as they might, Ciccocioppo said.
A criticism that has surfaced unrelated to the poor statistics is the scramble for vaccinations by many still unvaccinated individuals among the 4.5-million people in Phase 1A -- health care workers, everyone 65 and up and everyone 16 to 64 with a health condition that makes them vulnerable to COVID-19.
There have been stories about people desperate for vaccines spending stressful hours on the phone or computer, signing up for appointments with multiple providers, then, when they get one, ignoring the appointments with other providers, creating confusion.
Centralized registry
A centralized registry would seem to be the cure for that problem, reporters suggested during a virtual news conference Tuesday with DoH senior adviser Lindsey Mauldin.
The real problem is the shortage of vaccines coming to the state from the federal government, and when that supply gets better, the current decentralized system, in which people access a DoH website map to access providers near them, will begin to work as planned, Mauldin said.
Blair County Emergency Management Director Mark Taylor believes Mauldin is right, in that it would be difficult to schedule people using a central registry given the current supply of vaccines, which is vastly smaller than the demand.
But things aren't going well now, and they could be better with a central registry, even if that doesn't mean actually scheduling people for shots, according to Schmitt.
A registry would help even if it just places people in a queue, so that they could be assured that when vaccines become available, they'll get a shot, Schmitt said.
It would be much like taking a number at a deli, he said.
"You get a number, they tell you where to go," he said. "Or you call and get set up."
One potential problem with a centralized registry is the incompatibility of computer databases between organizations, one DoH official has said.
Wolf likewise dismissed the idea of a central registry.
"I'm not sure a central registration system would be any better," he said.
Still, a central registry system, including at the county level, would work when "there's enough vaccine in the pipeline," Taylor said.
The best approach for the governor now is to "swallow his pride, realize what he's doing is not working" and borrow best practices from states where things are going better, Schmitt said.
West Virginia is one such good example, he said.
The DoH on Tuesday introduced a tool that helps people determine whether they are eligible to be vaccinated. It's not a scheduling tool, officials emphasized.
But it will help people younger than 65 determine whether they have a profession or an illness that qualifies them. It's available at www.pa.gov/guides/get-vaccinated/.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.