Pennsylvania moves to speed vaccinations for older adults
Pennsylvania ordered vaccine providers Thursday to work with agencies that serve older adults to help clear a backlog of people 65 and older who have spent months waiting for COVID-19 shots.
The state has accelerated its overall rollout after a series of early stumbles, but only 35% of older people are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, ranking
Pennsylvania near the bottom nationally. Hundreds of thousands of older adults still need to be inoculated before Pennsylvania plans to expand eligibility.
“We continue to hear from seniors and those with certain medical conditions who are eligible to be vaccinated ... that they are still struggling to sign up,” said Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam.
Beam ordered vaccine providers to collaborate with the area agencies on aging — a network of 52 agencies that serve all 67 counties — as well as Medicaid managed care organizations to schedule appointments for people who want them but haven’t able to get them.
Additionally, providers may not refuse to schedule an appointment for someone who is currently eligible to receive the vaccine, nor are they allowed to advertise that no appointments are available, Beam’s order said.
Providers under the state’s jurisdiction are supposed to schedule all currently eligible people who request a vaccine — including younger people with high-risk medical conditions — by March 31.
The state wants to finish vaccinating its most vulnerable residents “in short order so that we can continue on the path of making vaccine available for all Pennsylvanians,” Beam said.
President Joe Biden has pushed for states to make all adults eligible to be vaccinated by May 1.
Pennsylvania’s drive to get older people vaccinated more quickly reflects widespread frustration among them while they try to negotiate the state’s confusing, scattershot registration system.
“We’re fielding a lot of calls from very desperate seniors,” said Holly Kyle, executive director of the Union-Snyder Agency on Aging.