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THREAD: A lot of people have been asking me where newly eligible phase 1A people can get vaccinated. The state announced this week that people age 65+ and those 16+ w/ certain health conditions can get vaccinated. 1/
Conditions are: cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, Down Syndrome, heart conditions, immunocompromised due to organ/blood/bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids/immune weakening meds, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell, smoking, type 2 diabetes 2/
The majority of vax doses are distributed directly to hospitals. @Sarah_Boden asked both UPMC & AHN if/when they would vaccinate patients. AHN is only doing people age 75+ who have had cancer treatment in the last year. They said they don't have enough vax for others. 3/
UPMC said they do not have enough doses to vax any patients at this point. They are continuing to vax employees, as far as we know. 4/ https://www.wesa.fm/post/despite-new-pa-guidelines-limited-supply-will-prevent-many-who-qualify-getting-covid-vaccine
Among the patients UPMC is vaccinating are remote employees who are not in patient-facing roles. UPMC says it is interpreting the state's Phase 1A guidelines appropriately by basically including all of their employees. 5/ https://www.wesa.fm/post/upmc-inoculates-remote-employees-while-other-frontline-workers-wait-covid-vaccine
Allegheny Health Network tells us they are also prioritizing vaccines for employees. However, when @Sarah_Boden asked about remote employees, they said they do not have very many remote employees and that any employee working in a hospital should be vaccinated 6/
I know that early on many AHN employees were working remotely, but have been back working in person through the winter surge. I don't know the reasoning for having these people come back to work in person (I haven't asked). 7/
Meanwhile, front line health care workers still struggle to find vaccinations, as @kileykoscinski reported a couple of weeks ago. While new tools have been created in that time, we are still hearing reports of people having a hard time getting shots. 8/ https://www.wesa.fm/post/dentists-pharmacists-others-confused-about-how-get-covid-19-vaccine-1
One of the tools the state created to help health care workers get vaccinated is a map that shows where vaccine is available. In addition to hospitals, there are a few places now showing up as green, meaning they do have vax on hand. 9/ https://www.wesa.fm/post/state-map-shows-where-find-local-covid-19-vaccine-providers
These include places like Wilson's Pharmacy in Bloomfield, East Liberty Family Health Care Center and Rite Aid in Wilkinsburg. I'm planning to call a few of these places today to find out how much vaccine they have and if they are taking appointments. Will report back. /10
There are also a LOT of red dots on this map - many of them are Giant Eagle pharmacies. This means they expect to get the vaccine eventually but do not currently have it on hand. /11
The main takeaways at this moment are:
-most vax is controlled by hospitals
-they are prioritizing their own employees, even when they do not qualify as phase 1A (again, health systems will say they do qualify, but a strict reading of the state guidance says otherwise) /12
-most vax is controlled by hospitals
-they are prioritizing their own employees, even when they do not qualify as phase 1A (again, health systems will say they do qualify, but a strict reading of the state guidance says otherwise) /12
More takeaways:
-because so many health care workers are still unvaccinated, the county is urging vax providers to prioritize them over the newly eligible patient population
-there is no one way for patients to access the vax: best bet is to call the places on the map and ask /13
-because so many health care workers are still unvaccinated, the county is urging vax providers to prioritize them over the newly eligible patient population
-there is no one way for patients to access the vax: best bet is to call the places on the map and ask /13
On this week's #PittsburghExplainer @Sarah_Boden and I discussed the new expansion and lack of actual vaccine doses for the new huuuuuge phase 1A group. /14 https://www.wesa.fm/post/jan-16-22-explained-vaccine-expansions-covid-concerns-western-psych-pghs-mayoral-race
