Williams sponsors bill to give counties more authority for vaccine distribution
As the issue of mass vaccination sites for the Philadelphia suburbs continues, state Rep. Craig Williams, R-160 of Upper Chichester, was one of the forces behind a bill to allow counties the authority to choose mass vaccination sites for their citizens.
“While Pennsylvania has made improvement in its vaccine rollout, all avenues must be pursued to improve efficiency and equity of access,” Williams said in addressing his support for House Bill 63.
“The unwillingness on the part of the Pennsylvania Department of Health to effectively include the suburban county health departments in its vaccine planning has resulted in inequity of access and unnecessary confusion for those in our area.”
After passing in the House, House Bill 63 now moves to the state Senate for consideration.
This bill comes after officials from Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties issued joint alarm around the state’s plans for mass vaccination in these counties.
Earlier this month, the state Department of Health had asked the four counties to pick one site that would serve all four county residents and then denied an alternate plan submitted by the counties that would have one vaccination site in each of the four counties. State officials doubled down telling the four counties they could pick two sites so the state could pick one where 42,000 doses would be administered weekly.
The elected officials from all four counties expressed disappointment with this decision and issued a unified statement that read, “Instead of working with local elected officials and county health departments closest to the people we serve, the state has chosen to take the advice of a Boston logistics company to establish regional sites as our local mass vaccination sites sit underutilized. We have highly qualified public health and safety teams in place, highvolume locations secured, and more than 400,000 people waiting on our collective lists to get their shots.”
With the decision in the state’s hands and with the hope of having two sites acceptable to all of the counties, Delaware and Chester county leaders agreed to identify a joint site and Bucks and Montgomery county representatives likewise agreed to distinguish a location for a joint site.
How House Bill 63 plays into this is it would allow counties, such as these four, to establish their own mass vaccination sites. Under its provisions, each of these counties would have one site per county.
In addition, Williams himself crafted an amendment to the bill that would require the state Department of Health to detail how it will distribute vaccines to counties that have requested more vaccine.
“Instead of working with local elected officials and county Health Departments closest to the people we serve, the state has chosen to take the advice of a Boston logistics company to establish regional sites as our local mass vaccination sites sit underutilized,” he said. “We have highly qualified public health and safety teams in place, high-volume locations secured, and more than 400,000 people waiting on our collective lists to get their shots.”
Williams also co-sponsored House Bill 756 that would call on vaccine allocation to be distributed based on population, rather than the state Department of Health’s formula, which had been sending more vaccine to other less populated parts of the state rather than the Delaware Valley.
“Our counties have been ready to be full partners with the state Department of Health. Unfortunately, that willingness hasn’t been reciprocated, and this legislation is necessary to ensure we get shots into arms as quickly, efficiently and as equitably as possible,” Williams said.
Relatedly, Delaware County officials recently launched their homebound vaccine program. Working with community organizations, county officials are identifying residents who cannot safely leave their homes to get the vaccine. They are anticipating that up to 500 county residents a week will be served by this program. To register for this service, residents can call the Delaware County COVID-19 Call Center at 484-276-2100 or email covid19resources@ co.delaware.pa.us.