Understanding The COVID-19 Vaccination Timeline
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- As the pressure mounts to get more people vaccinated against the Coronavirus, many people are wondering how long they are going to have to wait.
Dr. Brian Lamb, an internist with Allegheny Health Network says doctors are getting an earful.
"All day long. We're getting calls we're getting text messages. You know everyone's reaching out to see when they can get their vaccine. Everyone wants their vaccine, and everyone wants it as soon as they possibly can."
Adding to patients, frustration comes after seeing the scenes from around the country where people are lining up for their shots in other states.
Dr. Lamb says, "Unfortunately because there was no federally set guidelines, every state is doing it on their own. And so every state has different sets of guidelines that they're doing. People don't really know where they fall on the list, to get your covid shot."
Pennsylvania is still working to get health care providers, front line workers, and the elderly in long term care vaccinated.
Once that's accomplished the vaccination process will move on to the next group and Dr. Lamb says there is a misconception about getting vaccinated.
"You know, even if you do get your shot now you have to remember your life's not going to change. You know, we're still under social distancing protocols, we're still under wearing masks."
Still people want to get their name on the list. "Unfortunately right now there really isn't a list," says Dr. Lamb,
"We're not we're not writing down people's names we're not telling them, you know as soon as we find out we'll let you know, we're still waiting to hear from the government and we're waiting to hear from the state."
And doctors are hearing every reason in the book from patients as they make their case to be next.
"And we understand that and we understand the frustration and we understand people wanting to get the shot. We're asking people to please be patient. We are trying to get it out as soon as we possibly can. But until there's unlimited resources. We still have to look at how we can make the most effect on in general health, how can we protect the people who are highest risk of getting the disease, and having complications from the disease. So this isn't just us, you know, just coming up with a list of people who we think should get this. It is based on science and it's how do we keep the population as healthy as we possibly can. As we work towards getting everyone vaccinated."
And Dr. Lamb says social media isn't helping as more and more people post, 'I got my shot!' "We're asking people, be respectful of other people. There's a lot of people who want the shot haven't been able to get it yet. It's not really something to brag about."
Again he emphasizes, "Your life isn't going to suddenly open up. You're not going to be the only person who can go out on the street and not wear a mask and go into stores. You're still gonna have to follow the same rules that everyone else has to and you still have to keep, you know, with the same social protocols to keep everyone else safe."
As for how long the mitigation measures will be with us Dr. Lamb says, "Probably months, we are looking at this point, hopefully, by summer will begin to see enough of the population is being vaccinated, that we'll be able to roll back some of the restrictions. You know it is a matter of just waiting to see how soon we can get enough people vaccinated."
That depends on how quickly the vaccine gets to the doctors and clinics and so far the supply chain has proven unpredictable.
From first shot to being protected Dr. Lamb says it takes about five to six weeks depending on which vaccine you receive.
