State Health Department, pharmacies promote safety of COVID-19 vaccines
As Pennsylvania reached a milestone in the vaccination effort, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a renewal Thursday of his COVID-19 disaster emergency declaration just two days after voters approved changes to the state constitution limiting his powers during a crisis.
The renewal allows more medical professionals to administer vaccines, ensures families harmed financially by the pandemic have access to healthy food through SNAP benefits and ensures Pennsylvania counties and businesses remain eligible for federal disaster recovery dollars, Wolf stated in a news release.
“COVID-19 vaccinations have increased dramatically in recent weeks and we are making significant progress in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19,” Wolf said.
“As previously announced, we are lifting all mitigation measures on Memorial Day, but we need just a little more time under this current disaster declaration to ensure that we do not risk valuable resources that will help Pennsylvania recover from the pandemic.”
Wolf’s declaration also gives increased support to state agencies involved in the continued response to the virus and recovery for the state during reopening, Wolf said.
The amendments approved by the voters can not take effect until the election results are certified next month.
The state Health Department joined pharmacies Thursday in promoting the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
Fifty percent of adults in Pennsylvania were considered fully vaccinated against the virus, leaving the state with a struggle to convince vaccine hesitant adults to get doses. Health officials have said 70% of the population needs to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity against COVID-19.
“Each shot is going to be hard-earned,” acting state Health Secretary Alison Beam said during a virtual briefing on the vaccination effort.
She said the state needs to rely on the “chorus in the community” to convince people that vaccinations are the path forward out of the pandemic.
“We have the power to stop this,” Beam said.
Pennsylvania announced 1,430 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing the total since March 2020 to 1,191,532.
There were 40 new statewide virus deaths, including one in Allegheny. There were no new COVID-19 deaths in Washington, Greene or Fayette counties, the state Health Department said.
Washington County reported 45 new cases, taking the running total to 17,575. Greene added 15 new cases to its total of 3,246. Fayette’s case-count grew by 27 to 13,017.
Meanwhile, the department announced the cancellation of a contract tracing arrangement with Global Insight after it was accused of making personal information public for thousands of people.
Beam said the contract called for a 30-day notice of its cancellation, giving Pennsylvania time to find a new company to do that work.