Getting a COVID-19 vaccination appointment has been a bit of a crapshoot in Pennsylvania since the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna options started shipping in December.

As of Saturday, however, only a little more than half of the 1.98 million vaccine doses sent to Pennsylvania were in the arms of those hoping to take a major step in protecting themselves against the virus.

On Wednesday morning, the Pennsylvania House Health Committee heard testimony on the strengths and weaknesses of COVID-19 vaccine distribution throughout the state.

State Department of Health officials said that short notice from the federal government about how much vaccine is coming their way has hampered the communication process to providers.

“We have had about a one week visibility into what we are getting,” Alison Beam, acting Pennsylvania DOH secretary, said. “That just isn’t enough for us to plan. That has then trickled down to the providers, hurting the efficiency of the entire process. We’ve now been told we are going to have around three weeks visibility into what is coming, so that is a step in the right direction.”

Last week, the Biden administration said states will see a 16% increase in vaccine supply for each of the next three weeks, making for a minimum of 10 million doses a week.

Pennsylvania expected to receive 163,000 first doses of vaccine this week, up from 143,275 last week, according to the health department. Hutcheson, however, said there has been a request for about 700,000 first doses of the vaccine.

How it works

As for who can administer the vaccine and how much they get, Beam said the state is currently working with around 1,500 providers. When the state learns of its allotment, it dedicates a certain amount to its federal pharmacy partners and then its retail partners. The balance then goes to providers directly, which includes pharmacists, hospitals and county municipal health departments.

“As far as how much each area gets, we do an analysis of COVID-19 cases, deaths and the population of people over 65,” Beam said. “One of the main things we want to do is understand how quickly providers are getting vaccines into arms. There is immense interest from providers in getting the vaccine, but we want to make sure we are giving to providers, whether they be hospitals or pharmacies, who are administering it most efficiently.”

Each provider must go through an enrollment process with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the latest data from the CDC, Pennsylvania ranks 44th in the country when it comes to the percentage of available vaccine doses that have been given out.

Pennsylvania is currently in Phase 1a of its vaccine distribution, which includes those over 65 or with serious medical conditions. When Phase 1b opens, it will include first responders, teachers, the homeless, the incarcerated, agricultural workers, mail carriers and grocery store employees.

No success

Phil McCarthy of Walnutport has recently been trying to get an appointment for his 85-year-old father with, to this point, no success.

“We’re on waiting lists,” McCarthy said. “It’s been a bit frustrating. I just don’t think the system is really structured to prioritize one person over another. I know people who are not in the first phase that have already gotten the vaccine. That is what drives you nuts.”

Pennsylvania asks those looking to get vaccinated to self-report whether they are smokers or have underlying health conditions like heart disease, diabetes or obesity, all of which are theoretically supposed to move someone closer to the front of the line.

“There is not a requirement for people to provide proof of a condition, however providers are requiring people indicate which underlying condition they have at registration,” April Hutcheson, a spokesperson for the state DOH, said.

On social media, George Sackandy said he and his wife, Karen, drove three hours from Altoona to Jim Thorpe’s Memorial Hall, where they received the vaccine courtesy of Mauch Chunk Pharmacy. His wife, he said, had been online for days trying to line up the shots.

“This one popped up and filled all of their availability in under an hour,” he said. “We were just blessed to get two of the slots.”

Richard L. Allen, CEO of Warren General Hospital, said during Wednesday’s house hearing that people signing up at multiple locations is a good news, bad news situation.

“While it’s great that so many people are showing interest in getting vaccinated, one fear I have is that residents putting their name on lists at multiple sites across multiple counties leads to no-show appointments and can throw off the vaccine count when a county goes to order the doses,” Allen said.

When asked why Pennsylvania doesn’t have a centralized vaccination registration system, Beam said states are moving away from that model due to issues with IP system compatibility across the various providers offering the shots.

“We have a shared understanding that there is not enough vaccine right now and a centralized registration system,” she said, “won’t fix that piece of it.”