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By: KDKA-TV News Team
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Allegheny Health Network says it is suspending planning for COVID-19 vaccination for the general public due to the low amount of supply available.
Wilson Pharmacy is one of the few in the state to administer the vaccine to members of the general public, and Dolores Hison considers herself lucky.
“I was shocked to come in today and find out he had it,” she said.
But don’t hope. Although the pharmacy is now vaccinating members of the general public 65 and over, pharmacist Jeff Wilson says he runs out of his supply of the Modena vaccine almost as soon as the supply arrives at the door.
“Most likely we’ll be out by the end of the day,” he said.
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It is the same across the state and the nation. The distribution network of pharmacies, clinics and hospital systems says they are ready to vaccinate the general public, but the supply has slowed to a trickle.
After immunizing all of its frontline health workers, outpatient clinicians and first responders, Allegheny Health Network had vaccinated people 75 years of age and older. But on Friday, AHN paused programming until more supply arrived.
“Think of it like a cinema. When you sell tickets to a theater, you can’t accommodate anyone else. When you can open another theater, you can attract more people. Basically when we have more supplies, we will open more places, ”said Donald Whiting, Chief Medical Officer of AHN.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health so far has less than a passing grade after distributing less than half of the vaccines received by the state, and the UPMC has drawn criticism for not putting its supplies up to date. available to the general public before vaccinating all its workers.
But Whiting says the biggest problem is the lack of supply from the federal government.
“We are very optimistic that the new administration in Washington will be much faster to bring this out,” he said.
The UPMC presented its reason for vaccinating all of its workers in the following statement:
The vast majority of UPMC staff COVID-19 exposures that result in infection or quarantine do not occur inside UPMC facilities, but still have a profound impact on healthcare operations . Immunizing all UPMC employees is essential to our ability to continue to provide world-class care.
In a statement released Friday evening, the Allegheny County Health Department announced that people 65 and older can get the vaccine at the DoubleTree Hotel in Monroeville starting Monday. The county says an appointment is required and appointments will be “extremely limited.”
The clinic is open Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
You can register for the meetings for the week of January 25th using the links below:
25 january; January 26; January 27; 28 january; 29 january; January 30
“The links above connect users to the PrepMod planning system used by ACHD and PA DOH. If a vaccination window is available for a given day, the link will redirect to a page titled “Vaccination Registration – DoubleTree Monroeville” with the date of the clinic. Individuals will be able to enter their information and choose a time for vaccination. Selecting a time for vaccination is the last step in the registration process. After making an appointment, users will receive a confirmation email to the address provided during registration, ”said a statement from the department.
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