Allegheny County Leads Pennsylvania In Coronavirus Vaccinations

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PA — Nearly 10,000 people in Allegheny County have received partial doses of the coronavirus vaccine as the inoculation effort ramps up across Pennsylvania. That's by far the highest number in the state.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health's new vaccine dashboard, 9,948 doses of the vaccine had been administered as of Thursday morning. That's more than 10 percent of the 96,045 vaccinations given statewide since the rollout began on Dec. 14.

The counties with the next highest vaccinations given are Lehigh, with 6,370; Montgomery with 5,359; Bucks with 4,537 and Northampton with 4,283. In southwestern Pennsylvania, Westmoreland has administered 3,084 doses; Butler, 1,494, Washington, 1,063 and Beaver 472.

All of the vaccinations thus far are considered "partial" as a second dose is needed to complete the inoculation.

The state Department of Health is in the first of three phases of distributing the vaccine out to Pennsylvanians. In this phase, efforts are focused on reaching health care personnel, emergency medical services first responders and residents and staff of congregate care settings.

State health secretary Dr. Rachel Levine announced Wednesday today that she has signed an order to ensure vaccine is available to health care providers not affiliated with a health system, federally qualified health center or pharmacy.

“Effective Jan. 6, the order I signed today requires vaccine providers, such as hospitals, federally qualified health centers and pharmacies to designate at least 10 percent of their vaccine shipments for non-affiliated health care providers to ensure there is supply available,” Levine said.

“It also requires vaccine providers to set up a point of contact for these non-affiliated providers to register for vaccination appointments.,

In the vaccine program's second phase, a larger number of doses will be available. Efforts will concentrate on first-phase critical populations who were not yet vaccinated as well as the general population.

The third phase will focus on ensuring the entire population has access to the vaccine.

With millions of state residents awaiting the vaccine, Gov. Tom Wolf urged people not to be lax in taking the preventive measures necessary to minimize the spread of the virus.

“We can all have hope that next year will have a brighter ending than this year,” Wolf said in a news release. “And that hope should energize us to keep our guard up and continue the fight against COVID-19 in the months ahead. By working together, we can keep one another safe while we wait for the vaccine.”

View the state's vaccination dashboard here.