COVID-19 vaccine distribution update from Dr. Levine

thank you for joining me today. Like to give you an update on Covert 19 in Pennsylvania. At this time, 6346 people are hospitalized to to co fit 19 in Pennsylvania as a 7 a.m. That is double the peak that we saw in the spring. 1238 of those patients are in the intensive care unit and 745 of those patients are on a ventilator. The trend in the 14 day moving average of the number of hospitalized patients per day has increased 5200 since the end of September. And we continue Thio here of additional hospitals across the state that have few. I see you beds left or in some cases, no, I see you beds left. Our hospitals and our health systems in Pennsylvania are significantly challenged due to covert 19. Today we are reporting 9966 new cases, which brings the total number of covert 19 cases in Pennsylvania to 529,000 335 tragically 224 new deaths were reported today for a total now of 13,000 392 deaths attributed to covert 19 since the start of the pandemic. As you know, however, vaccine deliveries have begun in Pennsylvania and nationwide. Now this is great news, but the process has just started. 16 hospitals have successfully received the vaccine and have begun vaccinating healthcare workers. Right now, 1205 doses of vaccine have been administered to healthcare workers as of noon today, and so far we have not had any reports of adverse side effects. The remainder of this week’s allotment of 97,500 doses it’s on is on its way to the 71 remaining hospitals. So in the 1st 3.5 days of this effort, things were moving smoothly. In Pennsylvania, vaccine delivery has not been delayed because of the snow so far in hospitals are working as quickly as possible to administer the vaccine. Now this is really an enormous undertaking, and I want to thank our hospital partners for all of these efforts, especially in the face of also taking care of the surgeon of patients that they’re seeing due to Covad 19 now I do want to underscore to everyone in Pennsylvania that this is going to take time to get to everyone, to make sure that everyone who wants the vaccine could get it, including those in the priority categories set forth by the hundreds. The administration of the vaccine itself takes time. Everyone is observed after receiving the vaccine for any side effects and again in Pennsylvania, we have not seen any. We are also This is a critical point, dependent upon how much vaccine is actually delivered to us by operation warp speed. That depends on how quickly the vaccine can be manufactured by the pharmaceutical companies. While we are at the start of the road out of this pandemic are light a T end of the tunnel. The path is long and it will take time. In the meantime, we absolutely cannot afford to overwhelm our hospitals any further. The mitigation efforts that we have in place are absolutely needed to get through this very challenging time now and the governor has said this many times. We all we all want this to be over. We all want to celebrate the holidays together and to be with the people that we love. But this year we simply can’t. We have to keep each other safe and prevent a even bigger wave of hospitalizations than the one we’re seeing now. So until everyone can get vaccinated, which again is going to take time? We need everybody to answer the call and wear a mask. We need them to answer the call and stay home and avoid large and small gatherings. We need people to answer the call on social distance. We need them to download the covert alert, pa AP and of course we need them to wash their hands. We need people to literally answer the call if our case investigators or contact tracers call to give them important information that could save lives. And, as always, please continue to stay calm, stay alert and stay safe. And I’m very pleased to answer questions, okay?

PA Secretary of Health gives update on COVID-19 vaccine distribution

Updated: 2:21 PM EST Dec 17, 2020

Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine gave an update on COVID-19 vaccine distribution across the commonwealth Thursday afternoon.Click the video player above to watch a replay of the briefing.On Monday, state officials said Pennsylvania will receive an initial shipment of more than 110,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.Nearly 90 hospitals across the state will receive an initial 97,500 doses directly from Pfizer, the health department said. Philadelphia is getting its own allotment of 13,650 doses.The vaccine is going to hospitals that have the ability to store it, with the first shots to be given to health workers, first responders and residents and staff in nursing homes and other congregate settings, the health department said. Levine, issued an order that requires vaccine providers to report demographic information on people who get the shots, including gender, race and ethnicity.UPMC, which was among the first to get a shipment, said it began administering the shots on Monday.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

HARRISBURG, Pa. —

Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine gave an update on COVID-19 vaccine distribution across the commonwealth Thursday afternoon.

Click the video player above to watch a replay of the briefing.

On Monday, state officials said Pennsylvania will receive an initial shipment of more than 110,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Nearly 90 hospitals across the state will receive an initial 97,500 doses directly from Pfizer, the health department said. Philadelphia is getting its own allotment of 13,650 doses.

The vaccine is going to hospitals that have the ability to store it, with the first shots to be given to health workers, first responders and residents and staff in nursing homes and other congregate settings, the health department said.

Levine, issued an order that requires vaccine providers to report demographic information on people who get the shots, including gender, race and ethnicity.

UPMC, which was among the first to get a shipment, said it began administering the shots on Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.