PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania’s bipartisan COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force is calling on state lawmakers to do what they can to encourage people to get vaccinated.
Gov. Tom Wolf and members of the task force each signed the letter addressed to members of the General Assembly. It points out that Pennsylvania is eighth in the country in total first doses administered and 45th in new COVID-19 cases per capita.
They note that the seven-day daily average increased significantly in the month of July, averaging 158 new daily cases on July 1 to 916 on July 31.
The letter calls this a pivotal moment in the pandemic, saying Pennsylvania can either “stand by as COVID evolves into a disease that hospitalizes people at rates rivaling the COVID we knew in 2020,” or they can redouble vaccination efforts and work together.
The letter urges lawmakers to use every tool at their disposal to encourage people to get vaccinated, “with care, understanding, and urgency.”
The task force has four members, one from each part of the state: Republicans Ryan Aument from central Pennsylvania and Tim O’Neal from western Pennsylvania, and Democrats Art Haywood from Montgomery County and Bridget Kosierowski from Scranton.