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Smart Talk: The focus on the COVID vaccination rollout

  • Scott LaMar
University of Pittsburgh Pharmacy student Edith Wang loads a syringe with a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, during a vaccination clinic hosted by the University of Pittsburgh and the Allegheny County Health Department at the Petersen Events Center, in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021.

 Gene J. Puskar / AP Photo

University of Pittsburgh Pharmacy student Edith Wang loads a syringe with a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, during a vaccination clinic hosted by the University of Pittsburgh and the Allegheny County Health Department at the Petersen Events Center, in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021.

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Airdate: Monday, February 1, 2021

Perhaps the most discussed topic in Pennsylvania right now – at least by those of who are eligible – is getting a COVID-19 vaccination.

Specifically, how, when and where to get a shot.

Pennsylvania has a tiered system for who can be vaccinated. Tier 1A prioritized residents of nursing homes and frontline medical workers. However, the state expanded 1A on January 19 to those over the age of 65, younger people with serious medical conditions and others. That meant twice as many people are eligible to be vaccinated than the state has doses.

The state is lagging behind getting the doses it does have into arms.

From the Pennsylvania Department of Health:
Through Jan. 30:
• 1,814,850 doses of the vaccine will have been allocated/received by providers.
Through Jan. 28:
• 893,256 doses of the vaccine have been administered.

Monday’s Smart Talk focuses on COVID-19 vaccine distribution – what’s been done so far and what the near future looks like.

Guests include April Hutcheson, Communications Director for the Pennsylvania Department of Health; Republican State Representative Timothy O’Neal of Washington County; Dr. John Goldman, M.D., Infectious Disease specialist, UPMC Pinnacle; Chuck Kray, R.Ph., President of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association; and Brett Sholtis, WITF Transforming Health Reporter.

 

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