Where's the COVID vaccine? These 11 Pennsylvania counties got more than half of doses in last 2 weeks

More than half of the vaccine distributed in Pennsylvania during the past two weeks went to 11 counties. 

An analysis of state vaccine data shows that 11.5% of vaccine doses were shipped to Allegheny County, the second largest county in the state. Philadelphia County, which boasts the largest population, doesn't receive the bulk of its vaccine from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, rather directly from the federal government.

The four-county southeastern Pennsylvania region of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, has received 17.4% of the vaccine distributed since Feb. 22. That's more than 159,000 first doses for more than 2.55 million people.

Comparatively, Allegheny County received more than 105,000 doses for more than 1.2 million residents. The other nine counties that make up southwestern Pennsylvania — Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland — received 104,380 doses for another 1.3 million residents. 

During the past two weeks, 66 counties have received 913,830 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Eight counties received 1,000 or fewer doses, while 30 counties received fewer than 10,000 doses. 

The counties that received the most vaccine since Feb. 22 are: Allegheny County, 105,465 doses; Montgomery County, 57,170 doses; Luzerne County, 48,656 doses; Lehigh County, 48,200 doses; Bucks County, 39,485 doses; Delaware County, 37,950 doses; Erie County, 31,105 doses; York County, 30,835 doses; Mercer County, 24,930 doses; and Chester County, 24,660 doses. 

Acting Secretary of Health Allison Beam said Thursday that the demand severely exceeds the supply of vaccine that the state has received. The department had postponed a call with legislators concerned with distribution of vaccine to suburban counties to do a "deep dive" into distribution data. 

"The vaccine supply still is not able to keep up with demand at this time," Beam said. "We still do not have enough vaccine for everyone who wants it right now. But this situation is improving and we anticipate continuing to receive more vaccine each week."

In total, the state has received about 3.7 million doses of vaccine since December. 

Daveen Rae Kurutz is a staff writer for the Beaver County Times. You can reach her quickly at dkurutz@timesonline.com. Give her a follow on Twitter @DK_NewsData.

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