Pennsylvanians over 65 and those with high-risk conditions now eligible to get COVID vaccine

Sam Ruland
York Daily Record

Although COVID-19 vaccinations have been off to a slow start, the process is gearing up. Starting today, Pennsylvanians 65 and older and those 16 and older with high-risk medical conditions are eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

These individuals have been added to the first priority group for vaccine distribution under new federal recommendations, said Cindy Findley, Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and head of the vaccine task force.

Findley filled in for Health Secretary Rachel Levine who had just been appointed to Joe Biden’s incoming administration today. No announcements have been made yet in regards to Levine's replacement. 

More:When can you get the COVID-19 vaccine in Pennsylvania? What you need to know

Westford Health Director Jeffrey Stephens has given an update on the coronavirus vaccine plan.

Some high-risk conditions in group 1a include: 

  • Cancer
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  • Down Syndrome
  • Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
  • Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant
  • Obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 kg/m2 or higher but < 40 kg/m2)
  • Severe Obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2)
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Pregnant woman and smokers have also been included in this group. A full list of high-risk conditions now in 1a can be found in the commonwealth’s interim vaccine plan.

It is still unclear though when and how people in these categories will be able to sign up for the vaccine and receive their first shots.

Previously, people 65 and older and younger people with high-risk conditions were in the later priority groups, slotted to get their shots only before the general public.

More than five weeks after the first vials of coronavirus vaccine arrived in Pennsylvania, the state has struggled to quickly vaccinate the most vulnerable people: long-term care residents and health care workers.

The federal government said they wanted to deliver 20 million vaccine doses by the end of the year, but they fell rather short of that goal with only 6,688,231 doses administered to date, according to the CDC.

Pennsylvania mirrored those numbers with only 477,929 people vaccinated as of Tuesday. That’s only about 41% of the nearly 1,075,000 doses shipped to the commonwealth to inoculate front-line health workers and residents and staff of nursing homes, making it rank 24th in the nation for inoculating residents, according to the CDC.

Also of interest: