Republican leaders in the State Senate and House are asking Governor Tom Wolf to reconvene the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte), House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) and House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre/Mifflin) curated the letter for Governor Wolf Friday.
GOP leaders are asking Governor Wolf to recall the task force to look the bipartisan solutions on sharing information and communicating solutions with lawmakers, hospitals, health systems and constituents.
Wolf responded to the letter from leaders saying, “Thank you for your correspondence this morning suggesting the reconvening of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. Actually, the Task Force has never ceased, as we most recently met just over two weeks ago in a continued effort to both work together and provide information to the General Assembly on vaccine efforts and preparedness. Rest assured, I have no plans to dissolve the Task Force anytime soon.
The task force, made up of lawmakers from both chambers and both parties, helped lead a turnaround in vaccine distribution. In February, Pennsylvania was 49th in the nation. By May, the Commonwealth topped the list of the 10-most populous states in the number of first doses administered.
“The Task Force was created ten months ago today, February 9, 2021,” the lawmakers said. “We can agree that during that time our Commonwealth experienced improvements in many areas, including the vaccine rollout. We remain confident that the Task Force will prove to be successful once again,” the letter said.
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