Some UPMC health care workers have received their second COVID-19 vaccine injections.
While some employees got their booster shots, others are still waiting for that initial dose. UPMC Chief of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Donald Yealy, says the rollout started a little slow, but they're increasing the rate of vaccination every week.
"You have to identify people who have to be vaccinated first, offer it to them, schedule and then keep an ongoing rolling approach to making sure everybody is contacted, offered and if they say 'yes,' that they're scheduled and they get one of the two vaccines," said Yealy.
More than 32,000 UPMC health care workers have received the first of two coronavirus vaccine injections.
Those injections began the morning of December 14 after the first shipment of the vaccine arrived.
A UPMC nurse was the first in Pittsburgh to receive the Pfizer vaccine for the virus.
UPMC has about 90,000 workers statewide.
Yealy thinks all UPMC frontline workers should be vaccinated by the end of the month.
"I'm thinking that we will be able to assuredly offer those who are doing clinical care by the end of January," said Yealy. He said the vast majority will likely have had two doses by then.