Health Department Sending 2nd Vaccine Dose Text Reminders To Wrong People
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - As part of a new program to make sure vaccinated people are getting their second doses, the state is sending out text message reminders to more than a quarter-million Pennsylvanians. But some of those messages are going to the wrong people.
If you've had one shot, the Health Department wants to make sure you've gotten your second, but KDKA found some of these texts are going to people who are already fully vaccinated.
With the delta variant surging, the Health Department says it wants to make sure people are fully vaccinated. So this week, it's starting to send out text messages to some 254,000 Pennsylvanians reminding them to get their second dose.
"We will be reaching out to individuals who, for whatever reason, got their first dose but missed their second. We want to remind everyone that getting that dose is important to protect against the delta variant," said Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam.
But Raji Kosloske says he was confused when he got a text message.
"I had already my second dose," he said.
The state appears to be hitting some unintended receivers. Kosloske got a text on his phone yesterday even though he is fully vaccinated. He got both months ago, his first dose at Giant Eagle and his second at Rite Aid. It makes him lose faith in the state's accounting of the vaccinated.
"There's probably a lot of people in my situation and they're trying to do some vaccination count only from people who got it at one location. That's not an accurate count," Kosloske said.
Contacted today, the Health Department says it's aware of the problem and is working to cull their numbers for accuracy. A spokesperson said they are reliant on the information from the shot providers and have seen some errors in the data when people have gotten their shots at different outlets.
"The text messages are from the Department of Health are yet another step in the effort to get as many Pennsylvanians fully vaccinated as possible. If anyone who already is fully vaccinated gets the text message they can ignore it as we are continually reviewing the data," the statement said.
In Pennsylvania, 6.7 million people have been recorded as fully vaccinated, about 53 percent. Kosloske thinks the state may be under-reporting those figures because of faulty data.
"I'm hoping that's a sign that there's more people vaccinated than unvaccinated based on people like me," said Kosloske.
The Health Department believes most of their numbers are accurate but they're working to weed out the false data. In the meantime, its message is the same: to make sure people are fully vaccinated.
