Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
Vaccine providers must fill time slots
State says they can’t tell Phase 1A candidates there are no appointments
Days and nights spent frustratingly hopping from website to website, desperately trying to schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine at countless pharmacies and hospitals only to be told there are none to be had, may be coming to an end.
A push to get all Pennsylvanians eligible for vaccination scheduled in the state’s first phase of rollout gained some teeth Thursday.
Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam signed an amendment to an existing order that requires vaccine providers to schedule appointments for anyone eligible in Phase 1A who requests one by the end of the month.
Providers that have received first dose allocations for at least the past two weeks will no longer be allowed to tell those eligible to be vaccinated that appointments aren’t available. Instead, they must schedule an appointment, even if it’s not for weeks.
“Under this order, a vaccine provider that informs a Phase 1A individual that no appointments are available may be subject to enforcement,” a statement announcing the order read. “The order also requires providers to continue to ensure that appointments can be scheduled both by phone and using online scheduling systems.”
Enforcement includes the possibility of a provider having its supply of vaccine temporarily reduced or suspended.
Phase 1A includes anyone over the age of 65, and those age 16 to 64 with one of numerous medical conditions, health care professionals and residents of long-term care facilities.
Maggi Barton, Department of Health deputy press secretary, said Thursday that the new amendment is moving from a shortterm to long-term appointment scheduling approach, something made possible by a more reliable flow of vaccine.
“This is a shift in that we want to move people from waiting lists to scheduled appointments based on the steady allocation of vaccine that providers who are receiving first doses now know weeks in advance because by focusing the provider network we are guaranteeing them a minimum allotment each week,” she said. “Rather than limit appointments to the number of doses they have on hand, providers are now able to safely schedule weeks in advance so that people will have a date and time certain for when they will be able to receive their vaccine.”
It is unclear how the updated order will play out in practice. The Department of Health has not provided guidelines on how providers are to schedule appointments for all remaining Phase 1A patients in the next six days.
Many providers have waiting lists hundreds or thousands of names long, and others have been scheduling appointments on a short-term basis only after they learn how many doses they will receive for the week.
And according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 68% of Pennsylvanians age 65 or older have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose — which ranks 35th out of 50 states.
That means a little over 768,000 people in that age category might still want to schedule their first dose.
Data for other members of Phase 1A were not immediately available.
The new update changes a section of an amendment issued on March 16 of a February order pertaining to distribution on COVID-19 vaccines. That amendment said that providers “shall use best efforts to schedule appointments for every individual eligible under Phase 1A of the Department’s Interim Vaccine Plan who requests an appointment.”
The previous update said that by March 31 providers need to contact by phone or email everyone it has contact information for and offer that individual an appointment.
Neither that update nor the one issued Thursday require the appointments to take place by the end of March, only that future appointments are scheduled by that date.
“A vaccine provider under this subsection may not refuse to schedule an appointment for a Phase 1A individual regardless of how far in the future it is needed to make the appointment due to the volume of appointments,” the new amendment reads.
The new update says that providers must “schedule appointments as far into the future as necessary to accommodate all Phase 1A individuals requesting appointment.” It goes on to say that providers should base those appointments on an assumption that they will be receiving similar allocations of vaccines as they have received the previous two weeks.
Thursday’s amended order also requires vaccine providers to work with local area agencies on aging and medical assistance managed care organizations to ensure eligible adults are able to schedule appointments.
Jessica M. Jones, director of the Berks County Area Agency on Aging, said the update won’t impact what the agency is doing.
Jones said the agency has been working with its partners in the community to connect people wanting to get vaccinated with providers offering shots.
“They’ve proven to be very viable partnerships for us to link individuals with possible vaccination sites,” she said. “This is kind of the bottom line of what we do. In the face of a pandemic, this is the stuff we’re supposed to be helping with.”