PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — U.S. health officials have repeatedly said they hoped to vaccinate 20 million Americans against COVID-19 by the end of 2020. But according to reports, 15.5 million doses have been shipped so far, and only about 4 million people have been immunized.
As of Monday morning, only 42% of the doses shipped across Pennsylvania — more than 320,000 — have been administered to people.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine believes the initial estimates of how many Americans could be vaccinated by year’s end were higher than they should have been.
And, state health officials noted within the past three weeks that vaccines were distributed, we’ve concurrently dealt with a major snowstorm, Christmas, New Year’s, and a surge in hospital cases.
“It was always going to be a challenge during those two to three weeks to administer the vaccines that were sent to us,” Levine added. “I think you’re going to find in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States, now that the holidays are over, things are going to start gearing up.”
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Meanwhile, the staff tasked with administering the vaccine is the same staff taking care of COVID-19 patients.
Based on numbers from the state Department of Health, Pennsylvania has received 323,025 total doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines combined, and 135,044 of those have been administered. Doses for Philadelphia are counted separately from the state.
Pennsylvania is still ahead of the national average — 30% — in terms of administering the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Levine expects the $8 billion of federal aid, from the recently signed COVID-19 relief package, will help move things along.
“We’re gonna need to start mass vaccination clinics,” she said. “We’re gonna need that money to actually contract with health care workers to be able to do that.”
Federal health officials have pointed fingers at the states, saying it’s up to them to figure out how to get the vaccine to people. But Levine said it’s difficult to plan ahead, as the number of doses delivered to the state has often been different than anticipated.
For example, during the first week of shipments for the Moderna vaccine, Pennsylvania was told to prepare for 198,000 doses, but the state Department of Health said it received 101,000. The following week, the state received 52,500 — double what it was expecting. But overall, Pennsylvania has received about 76,000 fewer doses than expected.
In addition to the numbers reported by the state Department of Health, a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens is handling vaccinations in skilled-nursing facilities. Levine said the program has vaccinated everyone at 115 facilities, but the state hasn’t said specifically how many people or at which facilities.
Levine also said it’s still too early to estimate when the state will move from Phase 1a of the CDC’s distribution plan to the next phases. Front-line medical workers and skilled-nursing facilities are in the current phase, and police and other essential workers are expected to follow.