Heidi Gibbons, a nurse practitioner, contacted Action News after receiving no confirmation that the registration forms she filled out for her 94-year-old mother were accepted.
She wonders if her mother is in line to receive the photos. Her mother lives in a self-contained housing facility, which is not considered a nursing home in Bucks County, but she also has a home in Philadelphia.
“When you apply on these websites, you don’t get any confirmation. So it’s like putting her name in cyberspace and I really don’t know if she’s technically on a waiting list somewhere,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons isn’t alone. Officials are urging people to apply through provincial websites where they live and work, which means applying in more than one county if you live in one and work in another.
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If the county where you live and work does not have that option, apply through the Pennsylvania Health Department website.
With the new eligibility expansion, there are now 3.5 million Pennsylvanians eligible, but there just aren’t enough vaccines yet.
The Philadelphia Department of Health operates separately from the state and receives its own allocation of the vaccine directly from the CDC.
Currently they only have an “interest form” but still urge people to sign up. Health officials plan to use it as a starting point as soon as there are more vaccines.
Philadelphia is active in the 1B phase. The Commonwealth is still active in Phase 1A.
Frustrations aren’t limited to signing up, but how people in each category are vetted.
Since health workers are included in such a broad spectrum, only health workers in the major health systems can be easily vetted.
Someone who claims to be a homecare worker is trusted on an honor system.
The same is true for underlying conditions with the exception of cancer patients or organ donor recipients. The health department has an easier time contacting their doctors.
“To a great extent, we can’t verify most of the people who come in,” said James Garrow, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Department of Health. “We want to make the vaccine available to as many people as possible, but at the same time we don’t have enough to reach everyone.”
“Instead of going through and checking documentation and going through databases, we take people’s word for it,” added Garrow. “If someone who isn’t in one of these prioritized groups takes it from someone who has cancer or who has just had an organ transplant. It’s not ideal. We would like to do this in a way that doesn’t rely on the good will of people. “
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