Pittsburgh: Allegheny County Discloses Race, Gender, Age Of Some Vaccine Recipients

Pittsburgh PA

25 February, 2021

4:35 PM

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By PublicSource reporters, Public Source 2021-02-24 The Allegheny County Health Department shared details Wednesday about its administration of COVID-19 vaccine, including demographic information regarding recipients' race, gender and age. Of the vaccine Pennsylvania allocates to Allegheny County, about 10% goes to ACHD, with the rest going to providers like hospitals. ACHD then administers those vaccines itself, according to its Director Dr. Debra Bogen. Since Jan. 4, ACHD has injected about 22,000 first doses of the Moderna vaccine. The demographic breakdown: "Based on these data, the health department has vaccinated at rates consistent with demographic representation in the county," Bogen said. "I wish I could provide that level of data for the entire [vaccine distribution throughout the] county, but I do not have access to the data at this time." ACHD has noticed no drop in the demand for the vaccine. "People are ready and want it, and we're very excited by that," Bogen said. The Food and Drug Administration endorsed a third COVID-19 vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, on Wednesday. This vaccine requires only one shot — as opposed to the two doses required by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines — which would greatly simplify the process of administering the vaccine. Clinical trial results show it to be somewhat less effective than the other vaccines at preventing transmission of the virus but highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death. "I'm very excited," Bogen said. She did not know, though, when the Johnson & Johnson vaccine might become available locally. "I don't know the timing. The meeting of the FDA is at the end of the week. I hope that within a couple of weeks we may see doses here, but I have no knowledge of that at this point." ACHD has confirmed two more cases of the highly-contagious United Kingdom variant of COVID-19 since the reporting of the first case two weeks ago. At the same time, Wednesday's injection of warm weather makes social gatherings more tempting. That combination prompted Bogen to continue to recommend social distancing precautions. That being said, transmission of the virus in Allegheny County continues to be relatively low compared to the peaks seen toward the end of last year. New case numbers are down, and COVID-19 tests come back positive about 5.5% of the time. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald recounted at the Wednesday briefing how much graver the pandemic was months ago. "Standing here before you in December and January, we were in a pretty pessimistic time, seeing some of these numbers that were really not in a good place." The county is in a much better place now, he said. "Stay tuned," Fitzgerald said. "Optimism is feeling better. We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and, again, things seem to be getting brighter and brighter." ACHD confirmed 250 new COVID-19 cases and 24 new deaths from the virus Wednesday. The new cases, dated from Feb. 1 to Feb. 23, came from individuals from seven months old to 89 years old, with a median age of 39. The deaths occurred from Dec. 24 to Feb. 20, afflicting one person in their 30s, one in their 40s, one in their 50s, two in their 60s, three in their 70s, 14 in their 80s and 2 in their 90s. ACHD associates eight of the new deaths with long-term care facilities. To date, ACHD has confirmed 75,500 COVID-19 cases, 1,652 deaths from the virus and 4,975 past and present hospitalizations due to the virus. The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed 2,786 new COVID-19 cases and 76 new deaths from the virus Wednesday, bringing the new pandemic totals to 920,634 cases and 23,787 deaths. There are also 1,963 individuals hospitalized with the virus, about 21% of whom are in intensive care units. Nursing and personal care home residents and staff represent about 8.6% of the state's total cases and approximately 52% of the state's total deaths. Through Feb. 27, 3,172,900 vaccine doses will have been allocated in total to Pennsylvania, including 225,890 first doses and 180,610 second doses new this week. As of Tuesday, 2,083,277 doses have been administered. From Feb. 6 through Feb. 13, the state reported there were 23,492 cases statewide of which 28% had a case investigation started within 24 hours of the positive report. An additional 8% of cases had case investigations started within 48 hours of the positive report. ACHD reported Monday that it received about 7,000 additional doses of the Moderna vaccine to distribute to its clinics. About 4,700 of the doses are designated for individuals receiving their first dose, and the other 2,300 doses are for individuals receiving their second dose. The health department said it was sending out emails Monday with a vaccine registration link for individuals who received their first doses at the Monroeville vaccination clinic between Jan. 27 and Jan. 30 and are due for their second dose between Feb. 24 and Feb. 27. The links sent out are intended only for individuals due for a second dose at the Monroeville site and should not be forwarded to others, the county said. If an eligible individual did not receive an email containing links, they should call 2-1-1 to register for an appointment. On Monday, Gov. Tom Wolf announced a plan to boost Pennsylvania's economy using a 2.8% extraction tax on the natural gas industry. The administration projects the tax would bring in $3 million yearly to fund the "Back to Work PA" plan, which would pay for worker training and economic development efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have this resource at our fingertips, and it is the money we need to position Pennsylvania for a strong recovery and it should be used for our collective benefit," said Dennis Davin, secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, during a Monday press conference. Industry and business groups have opposed prior efforts from the administration to fund development with a tax on natural gas. Back to Work PA would also build out broadband access across Pennsylvania to help close the digital divide, and would include an initiative to help the state's manufacturing sector meet the demands of the supply chain impacted by the pandemic. On Friday, Wolf signed a fourth renewal of the COVID-19 disaster declaration. The 90-day extension gives state agencies additional support to stage agencies – for instance, enabling the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to assign the National Guard to support long-term care facilities – and lifts some regulations on an emergency basis. "COVID-19 vaccinations have begun, but we are still in the early stages of vaccine administration," Wolf said in a statement. "We will continue to prioritize a safe, efficient and equitable distribution process, and expect vaccinations to increase as the federal government makes more vaccine available to states." The governor's initial disaster declaration was signed March 6. This article was reported by Annie Siebert, Lauren Davidson, Matt Petras, Punya Bhasin, Danielle Cruz and Dannys Marrero. This article was produced by PublicSource.org, a nonprofit news organization serving the Pittsburgh region. PublicSource tells stories for a better Pittsburgh. 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