All adults in Pa. will soon be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s what to know
Beginning next month, all Centre County adults will be eligible to schedule and receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
With increased vaccine allocations from the federal government, the state Department of Health and COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force announced a special initiative to accelerate the vaccine rollout plan to vaccinate targeted industry workers and those included in phases 1B, 1C and 2.
On April 19, all Pennsylvanians will be eligible to schedule vaccination appointments.
“Pennsylvania’s vaccine providers have dramatically stepped up the pace of vaccinations to an average of 83,000 per day, moving the keystone state higher and higher in the rankings with other states,” Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam said Wednesday. “As we complete Phase 1A vaccinations, it’s time to open eligibility to more Pennsylvanians so providers can continue to fill appointments and efficiently, effectively and equitably vaccinate more people every day.”
The accelerated phased rollout schedule is as follows:
- March 31: Law enforcement, firefighters, grocery store workers, food and agriculture workers are eligible for the vaccine.
- April 5: All residents in Phase 1B, which includes postal, public transit and manufacturing employees, will be eligible to start scheduling vaccination appointments.
- April 12: All residents in Phase 1C, which includes workers in transportation and logistics, water and wastewater, public health, finance and construction, will be eligible to start scheduling vaccination appointments.
- April 19: All residents will be eligible to start scheduling vaccination appointments.
More than 5.1 million vaccine doses have been administered across Pennsylvania, excluding Philadelphia and federal facilities, according to DOH data. In Centre County, almost 70,000 doses have been administered as of Wednesday morning. There have been 43,420 partial vaccinations and 26,656 full vaccinations given; 17,160 people are partially covered and 26,565 are fully covered.
“It is important to remember that eligibility does not guarantee an immediate vaccination appointment,” Beam said. “Vaccine providers are ready and eager to get a shot in the arm of every person who wants one while we continue to aggressively advocate for more vaccine.”
Mount Nittany Health, Centre Volunteers in Medicine, Boalsburg Apothecary and Moshannon Valley Pharmacy have waitlists available for sign-ups on their websites.
To date, Mount Nittany Health has administered more than 28,000 vaccines and scheduled more than 5,000 future appointments as supplies allow. Moving forward, the health system will continue to follow the DOH timeline and administer as many vaccines as possible during each phase, Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Dr. Tiffany Cabibbo said Wednesday.
“This is a positive step toward putting this pandemic behind us,” Cabibbo said in a statement. “While we will continue to vaccinate as many people as we can, this will still take time, and we thank everyone for their continued patience.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 12:27 PM.
