Gov. Wolf: every resident who wants vaccine will have at least one dose by middle of May

McKEESPORT, Pa. — Gov. Tom Wolf announced Wednesday that every Pennsylvania resident who wants a COVID-19 vaccination will have at least one dose by the middle of May.

Wolf visited the vaccination clinic Bethlehem Baptist Church on Walnut Street in McKeesport and talked about progress in getting shots to Pennsylvanians

“Since Pennsylvania providers began receiving vaccine in late December, our state has made immense progress,” Gov. Wolf said. “Pennsylvania has moved up in state rankings for vaccine distribution over the past several weeks, and we now regularly rank in the top 15 of states for first-dose vaccinations.”

The clinic in McKeesport, focused on serving a population that may have barriers to vaccine access, is essentially a neighborhood clinic with plans to vaccinate between 100 and 200 people each day. It is the fourth clinic to be opened by Allegheny County in conjunction with its health department and a local community – two larger clinics and now two community clinics.

The governor was joined by County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Rev. Earlene Coleman of Bethlehem Baptist, Sen. Jim Brewster, Rep. Austin Davis, and McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko.

Wolf’s visit to the vaccination clinic comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave Pennsylvania more than $100 million to expand its COVID-19 vaccination programs. It’s part of a $3 million funding rollout to improve vaccine access and distribution.

While demand for vaccine still outweighs the supply that the state is receiving from the federal government, Pennsylvania has moved forward with eligibility for those in Phase 1B, while still vaccinating anyone in 1A who wants to be vaccinated and hasn’t been, and while completing special initiatives such as vaccinations for teachers and school staff. Vaccination progress has warranted opening up availability to more populations and mirrors the vaccination goals of President Biden.

To date, Pennsylvania has administered over 5.7 million doses of vaccine and fully vaccinated more than 2 million people. According to the CDC, as of Wednesday morning, April 7, Pennsylvania has administered first doses of vaccine to 35.4% of its eligible population, and the state ranks 11th among all 50 states for first doses administered by percentage of population.

Allegheny County has administered 456,952 vaccine doses with more than 240,000 people fully vaccinated. As of April 2, 76% of those in the county who are 65+ are at least partially vaccinated; 44% of those 50-64 are at least partially vaccinated. The Allegheny County Health Department has administered 87,386 vaccines to date.

Critical program providing assistance for communities lacking access to COVID-19 vaccine

Cox Media Group