1.2 Percent Of Allegheny Co. Residents Have Received Vaccine

ALLEGHENY COUNTY — Three weeks after the coronavirus vaccine arrived in Allegheny County, 15,491 doses have been administered as of Tuesday morning, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. That's 1.2 percent of the the county's population of 1.2 million.

An average of 5,163 people per week have been vaccinated thus far in the county. At that rate, it would take 232 weeks - or more than four years - for every country resident to be inoculated.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine has pledged the vaccination pace will pick up across the state in the new year. As of Monday morning, 135,044 of the state's 12.8 million residents had received their first dose of the vaccine. But Levine expects an additional 250,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to arrive in the state this week.

Additionally, CVS and Walgreens have begun vaccinations at 115 skilled nursing facilities across the state.

In Allegheny County, 151 residents and employees of the Kane Community Living Center in Ross were vaccinated on Monday. According to county officials, 91 workers and 60 residents were inoculated, with four residents declining the vaccine. The second shot will be administered on Jan. 25 and 26.

The vaccination of residents and employees at the other Kane centers will occur Tuesday and Wednesday at Glen Hazel and Jan. 9 and 10 at the McKeesport and Scott centers.

There are approximately 710 residents and 930 employees across the four facilities.

UPMC workers who received their first shot of the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 14 will receive their second dose on Tuesday. They will be the first UPMC frontline health care workers to receive the full course of the vaccine.

Despite the overall low percentage of the population that has received the vaccine thus far, Allegheny County by far leads the state in the number of doses administered. Lehigh County has the second-highest number with 8,074.

The number of doses administered for neighboring southwestern Pennsylvania counties are as follows as of Tuesday morning: Westmoreland, 4071; Butler, 2,048; Washington, 1,647 and Beaver 761.

Contributing: Kara Seymour/Patch.