Vaccine eligibility to expand in Allegheny County, but on certain conditions

The Allegheny County Health Department will expand eligibility for its vaccine distribution — starting Friday — to include people 50 and older who have certain health conditions.

Up to this point, the department has only been vaccinating people 65 and older, citing vaccine supply constraints. Dr. Debra Bogen, the county’s health director, has said the department would expand eligibility once more people in the older population — deemed most at-risk for severe health outcomes of covid-19 — had been vaccinated.

Bogen said Wednesday that at least 50% of Allegheny County residents 65 and older will have gotten at least one dose by the end of the week.

“Although we still have work to do in serving this population, these data tell us it’s time to expand our eligibility requirements for vaccinations by the health department,” Bogen said.

The department now will serve people 50-64 who have high-risk health conditions, including cancer, COPD, heart conditions and many others included in the state’s Phase 1A.

The change in eligibility requirements coincides with an overall increase in vaccine distribution. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said about 10,000 doses are administered countywide every day, compared to about 2,800 per day in the last two weeks of December. According to the state Department of Health, more than 170,000 Allegheny County residents have been fully vaccinated, and an additional 150,000 have been partially vaccinated.

The county’s supply of vaccine has “stabilized,” Bogen said. By the end of Wednesday, she said, the health department alone will have administered about 65,000 doses to about 41,000 people.

The county also introduced additional vaccine distribution sites this week in Oakland, the city’s Hill District and Ross.

But officials said they still are concerned about infection levels in the county “stubbornly maintaining at a certain level.” Though hospitalizations and deaths because of covid-19 continue to decline, there has been a slight increase in cases in recent weeks.

Bogen said she worries the county may be heading into a spring surge. She cited concerns including the presence of covid variants in the county, which have shown to be more transmissible than the original viral strain. Bogen said there have been 17 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant identified in Allegheny County, but this is likely “just the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

She worried there are more opportunities for the virus to spread with relaxed public health restrictions and said more individuals have reported attending group events, travel and other activities during case investigations.

“While I don’t expect the potential surge to be like the one we experienced this past winter, I am concerned,” she said. “Because about two-thirds of adult residents are not yet vaccinated, including about 50% of those 65 and older, many people in our community remain at risk. So I please ask that everyone remain cautious for another month or two while we get more people vaccinated.”