PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania is drastically expanding eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Wednesday, the state said it is accelerating its push to get currently eligible people immunized if they have not yet received shots: law enforcement, firefighters, grocery store workers, and food and agriculture workers.
On April 5, eligibility will expand to Phase 1b, which includes many other front-line workers — public transit workers, clergy, more educators, and postal workers, if they haven't already been vaccinated. It also includes congregate settings like jails and behavioral health centers.
On April 12, Pennsylvania will open eligibility to Phase 1c — communications, information technology, finance, bank tellers, food services.
On April 19, all adults, ages 16 and older, will be eligible to schedule vaccine appointments.
"The vaccine landscape continues to evolve as the federal government is increasing allocations to more retail pharmacy chains across the country," said acting Health Secretary Alison Beam.
"To ensure that vaccine continues to get to people efficiently and equitably, Pennsylvania is adapting its plan to allow workers in targeted industries to access any of the three vaccines available at providers throughout the state, and to accelerate our eligibility for remaining phases of the state's vaccination plan."
The changes will not affect Philadelphia, which is distributing its vaccine independently from the state. The city's target date to make all adults eligible for the vaccine is still May 1.
Beam said the state is in communication with southeastern Pennsylvanian leadership and is still committed to getting vaccines, especially Johnson & Johnson's, into areas of demand. The state is shifting from its plan for mass vaccination sites in the region and to allocations given directly to southeastern counties.
"I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I got the news today," said Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Val Arkoosh.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health says it is scrapping the idea of a mass vaccination site, and instead sending 42,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be split evenly among the Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties each week.
"This is a commitment of additional doses over time, not just for one week," added Montgomery County state Sen. Art Haywood. "So I believe that will make a significant difference in dealing with our challenges in the southeast."
Arkoosh says they'd been asking for help for weeks, "because we could see we still had a huge waiting list in all four suburban Philadelphia counties, and other places had no waiting list at all."
Bucks County Commissioner Diane Marseglia says she's thrilled with the additional allotment, adding the single-dose J&J vaccine will help them reach vulnerable populations.
Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie said, "As an overview, our health department expects to continue to receive about 8,000 first doses of Pfizer vaccine each week from the state, and the J&J doses will supplement that.
"We don't know yet when the first shipment of J&J will arrive next week, so we can't really schedule those doses until we do know. We currently have four county-run mass vaccination sites up and running, and those sites administered nearly 14,000 total doses last week. We expect to open a fifth site in the next week or so, which will further expand our capabilities."
Arkoosh says eligibility doesn't mean availability, and she expects an initial rush for appointments.
"I hope that is relatively short-lived, as we see so much more vaccine come into our region."
