Pa. won’t say when next phase begins
More than 2.2M shots have been given, but teachers and others still have to wait
HARRISBURG — More than 2.2 million COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered around Pennsylvania, but a Health Department spokeswoman said she could not say when the next phase of the rollout — which includes teachers — will begin.
“I don’t think we are putting out estimates at this point,” Lindsey Mauldin said.
She spoke a day after a bipartisan group of 16 lawmakers wrote to Gov. Tom Wolf asking that teachers get higher priority for COVID-19 shots. A spokesman
for state troopers said they were opposed to such a change.
Mauldin said 79,000 shots were given on Thursday alone. The overall department figure of 2.2 million doses of vaccine given statewide does not include Philadelphia, which is supplied separately.
Mauldin also declined to give a firm timetable for when the overall vaccine effort might be complete.
“I think we are still shooting for everyone by the summer,” she said.
The state is in phase 1A, which includes everyone ages 65 and older, younger people with serious health issues, health care workers and residents of longterm care facilities.
Wolf has said the phase includes about 4.5 million people. That means a total of 9 million shots will be given to complete the required two-shot regimen for each person.
The next phase, 1B, includes teachers, first responders, food and manufacturing workers, postal workers and other groups.
Beyond that, there is another phase — 1C — before the plan opens to the general public.
The letter from lawmakers asked that teachers get vaccinated as soon as phase 1A is done and ahead of the rest of 1B.
“We are concerned that the current pace of the rollout may delay the reopening of schools that are not currently providing in-person instruction,” the letter said. Those who signed it include Monroe County Republican Rep.
Rosemary Brown, Schuylkill County Republican Rep. Tim Twardzik and Monroe Democratic Rep. Maureen Madden.
David Kennedy, president of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, disagreed with the thrust of the letter.
Kennedy said that while children should go back to school immediately, vaccination of teachers “should not be a priority over law enforcement, including troopers, who’ve
been dealing with the threat of this virus from day one and and cannot work from the safety of their homes.”
Pennsylvania ranked sixth among states on Friday in vaccine doses administered, with more than 2.5 million including Philadelphia, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
But the state ranked 41st in terms of doses administered per 100,000, with 20,017.
Lehigh Valley focus
St. Luke’s University Health Network announced earlier in the week that it was dedicating some vaccine slots to eligible teachers in 78 area schools.
Democratic state Rep. Peter Schweyer of Lehigh County told the state’s top health official during a budget hearing Thursday that Allentown School District — with about 17,000 students and buildings dating back to 1871 — was at a disadvantage.
While neighboring suburban districts have restarted in-person instruction, Allentown remains completely virtual, Schweyer told acting Health Secretary Alison Beam.
“We have classes with 35 to 42 kids in them, and I have had legislators, colleagues of mine, very well intentioned, say to me, ‘Well, why don’t you just put plexiglass all over the desks to be able to return your students to class?’ ” Schweyer said. “We don’t have desks in every one of our classrooms. We have a lot of tables, where social distancing is darn near impossible.”
Schweyer said Allentown would have no “real ability” to get back into classroom until teachers are getting vaccinated.
He said, “This is a pitch for equity in one of the poorest communities in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Mitigation end unknown
The Wolf administration cannot say when COVID-19 business restrictions might end.
Asked by a reporter on Friday what she could say to businesses that might be on the brink of closing for good, Mauldin said the administration did not want to “overpromise” on a restriction-loosening timeline.
Mauldin also said that travelers who have been fully vaccinated nonetheless must have a negative COVID-19 test within the three days before entering Pennsylvania, or quarantine for 10 days. The same is true for Pennsylvania residents who travel elsewhere and return.
Mauldin could not say when that would change.
“At this point, we are really just focused on that vaccination distribution,” she said.