PA Receives Largest Weekly Shipment Of Vaccine Doses Yet

PENNSYLVANIA — Just a week after the Moderna dosage mix-up and the winter weather that caused significant delays to COVID-19 vaccine shipments statewide, officials reported some good news on the vaccine front this week.

The state has received its largest shipment yet of first doses of vaccine since the inoculation effort began in December. A total of 225,890 doses arrived in the state this week, an increase of some 42,000 over last week.

"I know that we have a lot more work to do," Acting Secretary of Health Allison Beam said during a news briefing this week. "I know that tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians are getting vaccinated every day. But we are not satisfied."

The state also received a significant increase in second doses this week, as 180,610 doses came in. That's about 40,000 more than last week.

These doses are separate from the tens of thousands of doses being shipped directly to pharmacies by the federal government.

While these shipments do represent an increase, it still falls well short of being sufficient to make a major dent in vaccinating the 1A category. Some 4.5 million Pennsylvanians fall into that category, and because the vaccine is two shots, they will therefore will require around 9 million doses.

Pennsylvania's first dose shipments have slowly increased for weeks now. The state received 164,000 first doses the week of Jan. 18, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. That number was increased to 200,000 weekly by early February.

The state continues to hope that better communication with vaccine providers, along with reducing the overall number of providers, will help administer vaccine more efficiently. But the national shortage of doses is the great limiting factor.

The state continues to perform at the bottom of the nation in efficiency, having administered 69 percent of its doses, according to a New York Times analysis. That places it 44th overall.

All told, the state has administered 1,498,265 partial vaccinations and 585,012 full vaccinations.