Frustrations mount over COVID-19 deployment in Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – Frustration is mounting over the COVID-19 vaccine registration in Pennsylvania as we head into another week of deployment.

Heidi Gibbons, a nurse practitioner, contacted Action News after failing to get confirmation that the registration forms she filled out for her 94-year-old mother were accepted.

She wonders if her mother is in line for the vaccines. Her mother lives in an independent living center, which is not considered a retirement home in Bucks County, but she also owns a residence in Philadelphia.

“When you apply on these websites you don’t get any confirmation. So it’s like putting her name in cyberspace and I really don’t know if she’s technically on a waiting list somewhere,” said Gibbons.

Gibbons is not alone. Officials are urging people to apply through the websites of the counties where they live and work, which involves registering in more than one county if you live in one and work in another.

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If the county where you live and work does not have this option, register on the Pennsylvania Health Department website.

With the new expansion of eligibility, there are now 3.5 million eligible Pennsylvanians, but there just aren’t enough vaccines yet.

The Philadelphia Department of Health operates separately from the state and receives its own vaccine allowance directly from the CDC.

Currently, they only have an “interest form” but still encourage people to sign up. Health officials plan to use it as a starting point once there are more vaccines.

Philadelphia is operating in phase 1B. The Commonwealth is still operating in phase 1A.

The frustrations are not limited to registration, but also to how people in each category are vetted.

Since health workers are included in such a broad spectrum, only health workers from major health systems are easily monitored.

Someone who claims to be a home health aide has an honor system.

The same goes for the underlying conditions except cancer patients or organ donor recipients. The health department has an easier time contacting its doctors.

“To a large extent, we can’t verify most of the people who pass by,” said James Garrow, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Health. “We want to make the vaccine accessible to as many people as possible, but at the same time we don’t have enough to reach everyone.”

“Rather than reviewing and verifying the documentation and having to go through the databases, we take it at people’s word,” added Garrow. “If someone who is not in one of these priority groups, they take it from someone who has cancer or who has just had an organ transplant. It is not ideal. We wish we could do it in a way that doesn’t. t rely on the goodwill of the people. “