The Wyoming County Commissioners released copies of the following letter to the media on Thursday, in which they expressed their frustration over current plans by the Pennsylvania Department of Health to have large, regional vaccination clinics conducted in northeast Pennsylvania, rather than the county by county approach that had been anticipated.
On March 18, 2021, the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) hosted a virtual meeting with county officials from Bradford, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne, Wyoming and representatives from the Department of Health and the Governor’s Office, to discuss the state’s regional COVID-19 vaccination site strategy. Our input was limited to an opinion on what will be the location of the NEPA mass vaccination clinic, which will serve the remaining residents in Phase 1A of the State’s Vaccination Rollout Plan – a population consisting primarily of senior citizens and individuals with high-risk medical conditions. It became clear that the Mohegan Sun Arena in Luzerne County is the preferred location, according to State officials.
If this is the case, 1A residents of the nine counties in the northeast, except Luzerne, would travel on average over 60 miles to the Mohegan Sun Arena. In many cases, travel would be as much as 75 – 90 miles, or more than a two-hour drive. We feel strongly that this cannot be the only option for those who have already waited this long, without any luck thus far to get a vaccine, and who the State has prioritized for inoculation.
Further, during the recent meeting, we learned that the State plans to concurrently open county-level vaccination clinics for people in certain segments of Phase 1B of the State’s plan. The topic of beginning 1B clinics in our counties right now seems premature as we continue to receive calls daily from those in the 1A classification who cannot access vaccinations. Until this population is fully vaccinated, we cannot in good conscience support using our local mass vaccination clinics for anything other than 1A.
Therefore, we’d like to do more to work with the State to better serve our residents. After much discussion, we, the undersigned county officials, wish to offer our assistance and expertise regarding our local populations and infrastructure to help facilitate the most effective and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to our residents, and to complement the state’s current plan.
Each and every one of us has had regular and ongoing engagement with our county residents regarding challenges and concerns about the vaccines, and our goal is to help implement a strategy that limits the hardship of long-distance travel for the elderly and infirm, provides consistency and confidence in this process, and continues to prioritize those categorized in phase 1A of the State’s vaccination plan.
We respectfully ask the Governor and the Department of Health to enhance your regional vaccination plans to include mass vaccination sites at the county level to serve the remaining 1A population before advancing to 1B. We propose the following.
Provide half the daily allocation of vaccinations to the regional site currently planned for the Mohegan Sun Arena in Luzerne County, and send the other half to the remaining 8 counties based on population and allow us to set up local vaccination sites using existing infrastructure and processes that include our local Emergency Management Agencies, health care providers, health systems, pharmacists, or Department of Health staffers.
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Based on regional population of 690,000
Bradford 9%
Wyoming 4%
Carbon 9%
Susquehanna 6%
Lackawanna 31%
Wayne 8%
Monroe 24%
Pike 9%
Pike 9%
Bradford 9%
Susquehanna 6%
Carbon 9%
Wayne 8%
Monroe 24%
Wyoming 4%
Lackawanna 31%
At a minimum, any vaccine clinic must include Pennsylvania residents who are in the current phase of the State’s Vaccination Rollout Plan, so that no one who is eligible is turned away. None of us can justify or recommend that our not-yet-vaccinated elderly, high-risk, or health care providers drive one to two hours to a vaccination site because they are not eligible for the closer-to-home clinic.
Our proposed approach allows county officials to be partners in the solution to making Pennsylvanians healthy again, and maximizes the use of our local health care facilities, already established and recognized as vaccination centers, for a safer and speedier recovery from this pandemic.
We hear the voices on the calls, emails, social media messages and we field the visits from our residents, pharmacists and health care providers looking for answers. Allow us to use the knowledge of our communities to best serve our residents and to support your efforts to quickly vaccinate them.
The above was signed by Wyoming County commissioners Rick Wilbur, Tom Henry, and Ernie King
I agree with the county plans. Not the Governor. We are way behind and now he wants to skip people.
I agree, my husband is disabled. Traveling a hour is too much, so is sitting in a car for hours waiting at the site. We are both at risk. Our doctors office was approved to give the vaccine but they aren’t allowing doctors to administer the vaccine!