COVID-19 vaccination rates slow in Pennsylvania

With all of Pennsylvania’s statewide pandemic-related mandates now lifted, COVID-19 vaccinations aren’t on the top of people’s minds like we saw in the spring.

That’s translating to the number of people getting vaccinated leveling off. Over the last two weeks, a little more than 200,000 Pennsylvanians have become fully vaccinated.

It’s a pace that’s slowed considerably compared to the first two weeks of June, when more than 382,000 Pennsylvanians moved into the fully-vaccinated category.

“We’re at a completely different state of the pandemic,” University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Don Yealy said.

The change is requiring providers like UPMC to think differently about how they connect with people who are hesitant to get vaccinated.

“how do we reach people where they are at? I mean that both physically getting vaccine conveniently to them, and helping them understand the personal benefit and the global benefit, particularly in younger people,” he said.

It also requires making connections; something that will vary from person to person and likely be a much slower process.

“Right now, when we partner with a sports team or the government, it will be focusing on smaller activities. It may look like some of the things we did before, but in much smaller numbers,” Yealy said.

Yealy didn’t rule out the possibility of using mass vaccination clinics like the ones we saw at Heinz Field if booster shots are recommended to be given. However, he said right now the focus is on the individual conversations, to try to convince those who are hesitant to get vaccinated.

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