Top Stories

Westmoreland County remains underserved in COVID-19 vaccinations

WESTMORELAND Co. — Westmoreland County remains among the lowest counties when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations, according to county leaders.

On the surface: Westmoreland County received the least amount of vaccines from the Department of Health in comparison to other counties it size — it’s also 57th of 67 counties for vaccine receipt per population.

County leaders say when it comes to vaccine allocation — Westmoreland county is being grossly underserved.

“We started looking at this data and I saw how disparate Westmoreland County was being treated,” Doug chew, Westmoreland County Commissioner, said.

Frustrations surrounding the vaccination rollout have been mounting for millions of Pennsylvanians — but for Westmoreland county leaders — its even worse..

“Whenever I look at the amount of vaccine coming into Westmoreland county, knowing what our population is, I started wondering are really getting as much vaccine as we should be getting,” Chew said

Chew and his team took data from the Department of Health and compared it county by county.

Westmoreland is dead last when it comes the amount of vaccine received from the Department of Health in comparison to other counties in its class size, and out of all 67 counties Westmoreland is 57th in terms of vaccine receipt per total population.

“The biggest thing we can do right now is to get more vaccine into Westmoreland county for the people who want it and need it,” Chew said.

That’s why Chew teamed up with Senator Kim Ward and other county leaders and lawmakers and sent a letter to the the Department of Health demanding an explanation as to why Westmoreland county was so underserved for vaccine allocation and distribution despite its population.

They’re also asking the state to make up for its deficit.

“And It would be great if that explanation led to additional doses being shipped to Westmoreland county,” Chew said.

Chew said he believes that letter was just sent to the DOH this morning and as of now, they haven’t heard anything back yet.