Simplify scheduling of vaccine shots

The process has been confusing, ridiculously complicated and needlessly frustrating for many.

Gov. Tom Wolf says the state must do a better job of getting vaccines distributed and injected, but claimed the real problem is the limited availability of the COVID-19 inoculations.

We see the biggest problem as a lack of leadership and coordination in a distribution process that has been confusing, ridiculously complicated and needlessly frustrating for residents who are trying to do the right thing and get those shots.

The extremes include:

• Hospitals and pharmacies that say they don’t have enough shots to treat the thousands of people clamoring for appointments.

• Medical centers that say they’re racing to get the vaccines they have into people’s arms before the shots reach their expiration dates.

Wolf’s administration has pushed back against calls for a central scheduling system, which might be a lot to ask of a Harrisburg team that dropped the ball on simply advertising for a vote to change the state’s statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

As our John Finnerty reported, Pennsylvania ranked 35th this week in an analysis of the 50 states’ success in getting vaccines distributed and needles into arms, based on the number of doses per 100,000 people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ignoring the math, Wolf generously called that “middle of the pack,” even as reports were showing that only about 10% of those who registered to get vaccines were actually receiving appointments.

“They are relying on their phone systems,” Wolf said.

“They are relying on their website. Some of them are great, some of them aren’t up to the challenge of the huge influx of calls.

“We have a lot of work to do.” Indeed. Where the public seems to be getting the message, finally, that vaccinations are the key to getting back to “normal” life, others are struggling.

As of Tuesday, Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said, the state had administered 737,817 doses – of the more than 2 million Pennsylvania had received – with 473,449 people having received one dose and 132,184 people receiving the necessary second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna inoculations.

However, Pennsylvania has administered about 50% of the vaccine doses it received, the CDC reports – ahead of only Georgia, Alabama, Hawaii, California, Maryland, Rhode Island, Virginia and Kansas.

And Pennsylvania has given vaccines to about 5% of its population. The country as a whole was at about 6%.

Neither of those figures is very inspiring, as scientists – including Pitt-Johnstown’s Jill Henning on our bi-weekly COVID-19 Questions forums – have said we need to reach 80% to achieve “herd immunity” protection against the virus.

That’s in addition to whatever response is made necessary by COVID-19’s ability to adapt – as shown by new strains out of Europe and South Africa.

State House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, a Centre County Republican, called the vaccine rollout “abysmal,” and said “many Pennsylvanians are frustrated” because they can’t get appointments.

The federal government is taking steps to begin shipping more vaccines to pharmacies, which would free up doses states already have for other sites, state Department of Health Senior Adviser Lindsey Mauldin said.

President Biden said 1 million doses will be distributed to pharmacies across the country starting next week.

The whole process is complicated by the reality that shots aren’t good forever.

The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have shelf lives of up to six months – if handled properly – according to national reports, and Pfizer’s drug requires ultra-cold storage.

What are the risks? Well, some residents of nursing homes in northeast Ohio are being re-vaccinated because they received shots that had not been kept at proper temperatures, as reported by The Star Beacon of Ashtabula, Ohio.

This all adds up to a crucial but tenuous system that requires precision and urgency of vaccination scheduling to ensure getting people through in sufficient numbers within the time period required for each batch of shots.

“We will catch up,” Beam said.

Do it quickly. It’s only the health of millions of Pennsylvanians and the future of our economy that are at stake.