With mass vaccination clinics at Heinz Field and PNC Park taking place, does this signal an end to the vaccine shortage?
Pennsylvania Department of Health Senior Advisor for COVID-19 Response Lindsey Mauldin says we are seeing more vaccine come into the Commonwealth.
"Allocation is definitely changing in Pennsylvania. I believe this week we saw 40,000 more doses allocated to Pennsylvania than last week, which was a huge jump."
Mauldin warns that although the state has seen an influx of vaccine, the amount is still too limited to do things like move teachers to the front of the line or consider moving on to group 1-B, which she says could have their turn as late as this summer.
"So far, more than one and half million Pennsylvanians have received their first dose and nearly 650,000 people have received both doses and are now fully vaccinated," she said.
Mauldin says after last week's missteps with the accidental use of second doses as first doses, those awaiting their second doses are not at risk for missing out and their doses are all secure.
New information out of the White House and reports from the Wall Street Journal would suggest that we're about to get "flooded" with vaccines as early as next week.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald says he wouldn't go as far as to use the word "flooded" but he tells KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin that he believes the vaccine production and distribution are going to ramp up significantly throughout the month of March and beyond.
"I'm hearing it from pharmacies, I'm hearing it up and down the line. I think you're gonna see even more of that continue to accelerate in the coming weeks," said Fitzgerald.
National statistics show that more than 15 percent of Americans have been fully vaccinated.
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With so many vaccines headed our way, could we start seeing things open up soon, possibly as early as April?
Fitzgerald thinks so.
"I do, I do. I think some of those conversations are already happening. Talking to some of our folks at the state level, they're starting to anticipate. And they have optimism. We have optimism locally, they have optimism at the state level. I think there's optimism at the federal level."