Despite rising COVID-19 cases in Westmoreland County, number of vaccine appointments dropping

Westmoreland County, PA — “The demand and request for first appointments is dropping off,” Chief Medical Officer of Excela Health, Dr. Carol Fox, told Channel 11.

She says the enthusiasm for getting the vaccine isn’t what it once was at the beginning of the pandemic.

“There is definitely a noticeable decrease in the number of individuals seeking first appointments. We have seen that significantly over the last week to week and a half,” Fox added.

She said she hopes part of it has to do with people making appointments at other locations, but her concern is that people are hesitant to get it.

“I think there is some vaccine hesitancy, and I think there are some individuals who are just concerned about getting the vaccine.”

Westmoreland County’s percent positivity rate is 9.9%, compared to Allegheny County’s rate at 8.7%.

The percentage should be below 5%.

Governor Wolf acknowledged that vaccine hesitancy is very real, but because of the lack of vaccine earlier in the year, it wasn’t as noticeable.

“It was covered by the fact that supply wasn’t up to demand. The theme for the first three months of the vaccine rollout was that there wasn’t enough supply, [so] the hesitancy issue didn’t rear its head,” Governor Wolf said.

Dr. Fox does agree with the Governor — that the only way out of the pandemic is to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

“I think people really want to get back to doing what they would like to do and get out and go to restaurants and events. I think we could achieve more normalcy the more individuals get vaccinated,” Fox said.

Pharmacy puts call out about open vaccine appointments for anyone 18 and older