Wolf: All in Phase 1A can schedule shots by April

Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday said all people in Phase 1A of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout will be able to make their appointments by the end of March to receive a shot.

By March 28, everyone in the first phase will either have one shot or an appointment in place,

Mr. Wolf said.

“We’re talking about appointments within a reasonable period of time,” he said.

In a virtual news briefing with members of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, Mr. Wolf said the commonwealth is making every effort to meet President Joe Biden’s timeline of opening vaccine access to all Pennsylvanians by May 1.

The governor also said he is expecting to get 200,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the end of the month.

After educators and other school employees are given the recently approved vaccine, Mr. Wolf said part of the next allotments will go toward regional vaccination clinics.

go to front-line workers, who will include people in law enforcement and firefighters, as well as grocery, food processing and agricultural workers.

Using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine these two ways will help speed up vaccinations and utilize the oneshot serum to get people back into the workplace faster, Mr. Wolf said.

The infrastructure to carry out the plan is still being put together. Members of the Vaccine Task Force indicated there would likely be multiple approaches to making the vaccine available to the different groups.

One of the members of the task force, state Sen. Art Haywood, D-Abington, said the regional clinics will be crucial to getting the vaccine out to people in hard-hit areas.

“Our plan also includes getting vaccines to grocery store workers, food processing workers — many of whom are Black and brown,” he said. “We can and will achieve equity, but we will need your help. Please get vaccinated when your turn comes.”

Mr. Wolf said virus spread in the state was still too high to consider returning to normal, and he would like to see the virus get to a point where there would be no risk of another surge.

Weekly COVID-19 infections in Pennsylvania dropped by 1,059 in the past week, according to the state Department of Health, a dip compared to what appeared to be a plateau of new cases last week.

But the pandemic continues to show it is far from ending, with the state adding 12,483 cases of the virus between March 5 and 11. And the state’s positivity rate remained the same this week, with 5.7% of people tested for the virus receiving positive results.

“We’re within striking distance of the finish line,” Mr. Wolf said. “I just don’t want to stop the race before we get to that finish line, but we’re almost there.”

He said the state was monitoring data surrounding cases, deaths and hospitalizations to determine when to rescind restrictions.

On Friday, Pennsylvania reported an increase of 3,074 new cases and 40 more deaths from the virus.

Most counties saw relatively slight changes in new cases, while Cumberland County saw a drop of 304 cases in the past week, reporting 238 infections of COVID-19 in the past seven days.

Cases in Allegheny County dropped by 39, the state Department of Health said, while the county Health Department on

Friday reported 296 new cases of COVID-19 and confirmed the virus- related deaths of nine more people.

The newly added deaths come from between Feb. 25 and March 10, the county said. Four of them were associated with a long-term care facility.

One of the decedents was in their 40s, three were in their 70s, three more were in their 80s and two were in their 90s.

Of the new infections, 214 are confirmed and 82 were probable positives. The positive tests are mostly from the past week, but four date back as far as Jan. 27, the county said. Newly infected people ranged in age from 1 to 88 years.

Since the county began reporting virus data in March 2020, there have been 79,450 cases of COVID-19 in Allegheny County residents, resulting in 5,361 hospitalizations and 1,731 deaths.

The state reported Friday that it had distributed nearly 3.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to almost 2.3 million Pennsylvanians. Some vaccines require two doses.

More than 282,000 people in Allegheny County have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the state Department of Health.

More information about COVID-19 and vaccines can be found on the county’s dashboard and the Pennsylvania Department of Health website.