Allegheny Health Network stops scheduling Covid-19 vaccines as supply is exhausted

PITTSBURGH — As of Friday morning, Allegheny Health Network had administered 35,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and said the hospital system’s supply will be depleted within a week.

Another 26,000 vaccine doses were already scheduled to be administered in the coming days, but that will exhaust the supply, said Dan Laurent, vice president of corporate communications for AHN.

“We are not scheduling any additional vaccinations at this point because our entire supply has been allocated and we do not know when we are getting more,” Laurent said. “We will resume scheduling when we have supply of the vaccine.”

Laurent said each of the 26,000 vaccine doses already scheduled to go into someone’s arm will be distributed to previously made appointments.

Channel 11 has been checking with other health care and hospital systems about their supplies of the vaccine as Pennsylvanians struggle to find a dose.

UPMC

“UPMC does not schedule COVID-19 vaccinations for doses it does not have, so we haven’t had to cancel or put out any notification that we’re curtailing scheduling due to an exhausted supply. UPMC’s process is to collect requests for vaccination, along with information that helps us determine where requesters fall within the Phase 1A eligibility. We then contact those who are highest in our prioritization and schedule them for vaccination with the supply we either already have or have been told we will receive. We’ve found this process best manages community expectations and mitigates disappointment because we don’t have to cancel already scheduled vaccinations.”

Excela Health

“We are currently completing our process of inoculating 1A healthcare workers only. We initially received a supply that we hoped would allow us to offer the vaccine to all health care workers. Unfortunately, the community healthcare worker demand has exceeded that supply. Concurrently, while the state has announced individuals ages 65 and over or those with a condition that puts them at risk for severe disease can now be immunized, our present supply of vaccine does not allow us to inoculate this group at this time. We are awaiting clarity and detail on further supply of vaccine.”

Heritage Valley Health System

Heritage Valley Health System received 3,950 first doses and the associated 3,950 second doses of the vaccine for Phase 1A health care professionals; 98% of the first doses have been administered to front-line healthcare workers and Emergency Medical Personnel (EMT’s). (FYI-First responders are Phase 1B per the PA Department of Health guidelines.)

The Health System has recently received an additional 1,000 first doses of vaccine and placed orders for thousands more vaccines. We are awaiting receipt of the additional vaccine orders from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Currently, we have scheduled three days for vaccine distribution of the additional 1,000 doses to the 65 years and older segment of the population. Those dates are Thursday, January 28 and Friday, January 29 at the CCBC Dome and Monday, February 1 at the former Heritage Valley Robinson location, near Staples. Individuals must be scheduled to obtain a vaccine on those days.

Heritage Valley is asking individuals who are eligible and interested in receiving a vaccine to do the following:

• Register online at www.heritagevalley.org to be placed on our waiting list. The registration link is now available for scheduling.
• As vaccine becomes available, Heritage Valley will contact those registered individuals, via email or text, to schedule appointments for their first and second doses.
• It is important that after scheduling, individuals keep their appointments.

Although Heritage Valley only has a small allotment of vaccine at this time, we are asking people to register so that when vaccine is available, we can schedule quickly and efficiently. Other dates for vaccine clinics are contingent on the receipt of vaccine shipments.

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