COVID-19 In Westmoreland County: Officials Say State Is Not Communicating About Vaccine Distribution
WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. (KDKA) -- GOP leaders in Westmoreland County continue to say the county is being shortchanged on coronavirus vaccines and information from Harrisburg.
This week, local Republican leaders met to discuss what they consider inadequate vaccine supplies for a county the size of Westmoreland. For its part, the Pennsylvania Department of Health issued a letter late last week addressing county commissioners' concerns.
According to the dose administration data that the state Department of Health has, the county is showing fewer doses per capita than similarly sized counties but has administered 24 doses per 1,000 people, which places it in the top one-third of counties for vaccine administrations.
State Rep Eric. Nelson told KDKA, "There's no reason by any metric that Westmoreland should be 55 in receiving the shots."
For Nelson and his GOP counterparts, they say it's a matter of leadership and organization.
"We have to first acknowledge that we are not doing well as a state getting vaccines, let alone as a county," Nelson said. "We've given links to Ohio's vaccine distribution lines and, constituents in Westmoreland County have had a better chance of riding to Ohio to get a shot. Everybody loses when you must leave the state to get an essential service."
Nelson said the state sent about 3,000 vaccines to the county recently but gave the administrators of the vaccine no heads up, leading to a rush to get people on the vaccine registry list. Nelson said it's another example of why needs the state needs a better distribution system.
KDKA reached out to the Pennsylvania Department of Health about the concerns from local lawmakers and is awaiting a response.
