Westmoreland County has the 5th highest amount of hospitalizations from COVID-19 in the Commonwealth, but County Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher says her county is getting short-changed when it comes to vaccine distribution.
"We are one of the larger counties in the state of Pennsylvania - I believe we are 11th in population - but we are one of the last counties to be getting the vaccines in regards to our population," she said.
Cerilli Thrasher tells Larry and Kevin on the News Radio KDKA morning show that she has reached out to the state's Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam but has yet to hear back.
She did say that county officials did have a meeting with their state legislators earlier this week and the topic of vaccines was brought up.
"Unfortunately, it's out of our hands right now," said.
The Commissioner went on to explain that she's also pushing to get a universal registry for seniors so they can get appointments to be vaccinated. "I have been pushing very, very hard. However, my two commissioner colleagues have not given me a second vote to do a universal registry for senior citizens. It absolutely breaks my heart that senior citizens can't get an appointment right now," said Cirelli Thrasher.
She said the other Commissioners say the state should handle a universal registery, meanewhile she said their neighboring county to the south, Fayette, has a universal registry.
While she agreed that the state should have done this, she said they haven't and it's up to local officials to do it.