COVID-19 in Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Says 500,000 Duplicate Coronavirus Vaccine Injections

HARRISBURG, Pa .– The Pennsylvania Department of Health has reduced the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses that have been administered by approximately 500,000, saying the numbers were duplicate.

The figures, released Friday night without explanation, also showed an increase of about 60,000 in the number of people counted as fully vaccinated.

The figures include 66 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. They do not include Philadelphia, which is its own vaccine jurisdiction.

For the 67 counties, the percentage of people aged 18 and over vaccinated was 61%, up slightly with the change in data.

Asked about the changed figures, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said agency staff had made efforts to tie the first and second doses to individual residents.

As a result, they removed duplicate data resulting from providers using software that did not include a unique patient ID or uploading duplicate data, or people receiving the first and second doses from different providers.

The data now more accurately reflects the number of people who received the first of a two-dose vaccine, the spokesperson said.

Data on Friday showed just under 11.3 million total doses of the vaccine, compared to 11.8 million on Thursday. It also showed more than 5.5 million people fully vaccinated, up 64,000 from Thursday’s figure.

Transmission rates in Pennsylvania remained stable after a long decline in the spring, as more people were vaccinated.