Pennsylvania has plan to fix second-dose COVID-19 vaccine shortage

Pennsylvania health officials say they have a plan to get replacement second doses of the COVID vaccine delivered to original providers who misused them as first doses.

Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam announced Tuesday that between 30,000 and 60,000 first doses of the Moderna vaccine will be “reallocated” for second-dose delivery over the next three weeks to make up for the shortages.  

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Affected providers will be asked to reschedule, if necessary, patients for second doses that were originally set at the minimum 28-day interval.  

The fix will ensure that people can return to the original provider for their second dose within the 42-day window the CDC recommends.

State health officials have estimated as many as 115,000 Pennsylvanians could face delays for scheduling first doses of the Moderna vaccine as a result of the improper use. 

Pennsylvania this week is anticipating its biggest single-week allotment of first-dose vaccine, and more than 400,000 doses in total. The amounts do not include Philadelphia, which gets its vaccine from the federal government directly.

Those doses also are in addition to vaccines whose delivery was delayed last week as a result of winter storms, state officials said. 

The state only received a little more than 16,000 doses last week, out of the more than 325,000 doses it expected. Those supplies should arrive this week, state officials said.

This week the state is getting 225,890 first doses of vaccine, and 180,610 second doses this week, Senior Advisor for COVID-19 Response Lindsey Mauldin said. 

The federal government is also sending “tens of thousands” of doses directly to some pharmacies and Federally Qualified Health Centers, Mauldin said. 

At the press conference, which updated vaccine efforts in long-term care facilities, Beam and Gov. Tom Wolf did not offer a timeframe for when the state anticipated completing the 1A phase. 

More than four million people are eligible in phase 1A and it will take at least eight million doses to fully vaccinate them, according to the state. The state anticipates it will have received only 3.1 million doses at the end of this week.

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