Vaccines in Pa. may soon move to Phase 1B, Dr. Levine says.

Pennsylvania’s top health official on Monday said she expects COVID-19 vaccinations in the state will “soon” move to Phase 1B, but she did not specify when the state may get to that point.

State Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine mentioned the potential progression toward the next phase — which includes adults over 75 years old and front-line workers like first responders, food workers, postal workers and others — during a virtual briefing.

But it may be “several months” before the COVID-19 vaccine is available for everyone, Dr. Levine said, urging people to remain patient and continue to adhere to mitigation efforts while the virus continues to spread significantly throughout the state.

She also warned current vaccination numbers may appear misleading.

“I think it’s a misconception that thousands of doses are sitting there,” Dr. Levine said, noting lags in reporting can cause a gap between the amount of doses distributed and the actual amount of vaccines available for use. She added she feels “very comfortable with our ability to get those second doses to people when they’re needed.”

Currently, 226,478 Pennsylvanians have received at least the first of two shots during the first phase of the rollout, which covers health care workers and people in long-term care facilities. But those shots make up just 28% of the 812,550 doses that have been distributed in the state, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vaccination schedule also was a point of criticism from state House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, who sent a letter to Dr. Levine and Gov. Tom Wolf asking them to remove elected officials from the state’s high vaccine priority, where they’re listed in Phase 1C alongside people working in media, housing, construction, public safety and other sectors.

Recommendations from the CDC do not explicitly list elected officials in its interim recommendations for vaccine rollout after Phase 1A, but it does cite the definition of “essential workers” from the Cyberstructure and Infrastructure Security Agency, which includes government facilities among other critical sectors.

Barry Ciccocioppo, the state’s COVID-19 press secretary, said vaccinating public-facing elected officials is important because the Republican majority in the state House requires in-person debate but not mask-wearing.

Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Monday reported a two-day total of 12,844 new cases of COVID-19 and said 186 more people have died from the disease.

The new cases were made up of 5,338 reported Sunday and 7,506 cases reported Monday, bringing

the total case count to 726,154 statewide. There have been 17,853 Pennsylvanians who have died from COVID-19, according to the health department.

As the pandemic rages, Dr. Levine said the number of vaccinations against the deadly virus is increasing in the state, which can expect to receive about 138,000 more doses of the vaccine by the end of the week.

Dr. Levine expressed optimism that the pace of vaccinations is increasing, but she said officials in federal and state government “all need to do better” to increase the number of inoculations.

And the number of Pennsylvanians testing positive for the virus has improved in recent weeks, dropping to 14.4% from 15.0% last week, although all counties continue to have “substantial transmission,” the health department said.

In Allegheny County, officials on Monday reported a two-day total of 887 new cases of COVID-19.

Among the new cases, 765 are confirmed and 122 are marked as probable, with newly infected people ranging in age from 2 months to 99 years. The vast majority of the positive tests come from the past week, but five of them date back to Dec. 28.

The county also reported three more people who died from the disease. The deaths occurred over the weekend, with one of the people in their 80s and the other two in their 90s. One of them was also in a long-term care facility.

According to the state, almost 29,000 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in Allegheny County, and more than 3,000 people have received their second dose.

More information can be found on the county’s dashboard and the Pennsylvania Department of Health website.