Vaccine supply now exceeds demand in Allegheny County, officials said Wednesday
At a press conference, Dr. Debra Bogen, health director, and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald are recommending county residents to schedule a vaccination appointment or walk in for a dose at a county clinic.
All Pennsylvania residents ages 16 and older have been eligible for a covid vaccine as of last Tuesday.
“It means freedom,” Fitzgerald said.
Overall, vaccination rates in Allegheny County continue to rise. Fitzgerald said more than 900,000 shots have been administered in the province, with more than 565,000 people vaccinated. That’s nearly 57% of the adult population, Fitzgerald said.
About 84% of people 65 and older in Allegheny County have received at least one dose. Of those 50-64, Bogen said, about 54% have received at least one dose.
Bogen said the availability of vaccine has allowed the county to ease restrictions on where people can seek second doses, and the health department is placing more emphasis on making it as easy as possible for people to get a dose, where they are.
Students returning to the county from elsewhere, or leaving Allegheny County after getting their first dose, can seek a second dose wherever they go, Bogen said. Walk-up availability is increasing at clinics; and the department will shrink major vaccination sites in the coming weeks, in favor of more targeted events.
“Our goal is really to get the vaccine to people where they are,” said Bogen.
Bogen said the health department, like the rest of the state and country, is waiting for the “green light” to resume administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was interrupted last week after rare blood clots were identified in six women in the two weeks after their shot. One of the women died. More than 6.8 million people have received the J&J vaccine in the US, most of them without serious side effects.
At Wednesday’s briefing, Bogen said the J&J hiatus was a setback.
“Simply put, it gave people who were wondering if they wanted to get a vaccine an excuse not to get one,” she said.
Bogen noted that the covid death rate in the US is about 60 times higher than the death rate from car accidents. Contracting covid also has an exponentially higher chance of killing someone than getting blood clots from the vaccine, she said, especially among older individuals.
“I don’t want to lessen the serious consequences of blood clots,” Bogen said. “I’m just trying to reiterate that the risk of developing these blood clots is extremely rare, about one in a million.”
Pennsylvania officials last week said the J&J vaccine break would last until at least Saturday.
Meanwhile, Allegheny County is still in a “fourth wave” of cases, Bogen said. But the daily number of infections has decreased over the past week, with an average of 350 new cases per day – compared to 425 per day for the first 10 days of the month.
“Not where we want to be, but certainly in the right direction,” said Bogen.
Teghan Simonton is a writer on the Tribune Review staff. You can contact Teghan at 724-226-4680, [email protected] or via Twitter .