Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday called on President Biden to speed up the covid vaccine distribution process, which has frustrated residents statewide.

Wolf blamed the Trump administration for asking states to add people 65 and older to their top covid-19 vaccine priority group when there weren’t enough available doses.

“The idea was, at least we thought, that that meant when we went to 65 and older from 75 and older — which really greatly expanded the range of 1A recipients — that the supply would also be expanded,” Wolf said during a virtual news conference.

“Well, that was wrong,” he said. “(Supplies) weren’t expanded, and it turned out there was no stockpile that was going to be thrown open.”

He called that realization disappointing but noted there is hope the vaccine distribution process on the federal end will be made more efficient by the Biden administration. More efficiency in that process, Wolf said, will translate into a more efficient process on Pennsylvania’s end.

“I know they are doing everything they can,” he said.

Pennsylvania has received about 1.5 million doses of the vaccine, Wolf said, and there are 4 million Pennsylvanians who fall into Phase 1A, the state’s first priority group for vaccination. Since the vaccination takes two shots, there’s a need for 8 million doses just for the first phase, he said. This means Pennsylvania needs 6.5 million additional doses.

“One of the big constraints that we are all working under is the lack of supply, and that is facing states all across the country,” Wolf said.

Newly nominated Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam, in her debut briefing, said 737,817 doses of the vaccine have been administered across the state: 473,449 people have received the first dose and 132,184 people are fully vaccinated.

Beam noted those numbers are lower than what has actually been administered, as providers have 24 hours to send their data to the state, and CVS and Walgreens — the pharmacies that are going into long-term care homes to vaccinate residents — have 72 hours.

The announcement last week that Phase 1A would be expanded to include anyone older than 65 and anyone 16 to 64 with certain underlying conditions sent hundreds of people rushing to vaccination clinics and health care providers trying to get their shots. They couldn’t, because there isn’t enough vaccine to go around.

Beam said the state has not implemented a centralized scheduling or preregistration system because “localized efforts” were determined to be the best option.

“The relationship folks have with their providers or with their pharmacist is what was best suited to actually administering the vaccine,” she said. “We’re allowing those providers and those pharmacists to be able to use their scheduling system that they might have already had in place to be our ultimate registration guide.”

Still, Wolf said, he knows the state must do better. He referenced data gathered by The New York Times that put Pennsylvania toward the middle of all states and territories in terms of vaccination efficiency.

“We recognize that we need to do a better job. I hate being in the middle of any pack — I want to be at the top of the pack,” he said. “If the registration system is something that might get us there, we’ll certainly give it serious consideration.”

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