When could more mass vaccination clinics open statewide? Channel 11 goes straight to state officials

PITTSBURGH — Gov. Tom Wolf wants teachers and support staff to be vaccinated by the end of the month across the entire state. Channel 11′s Aaron Martin asked the head of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency how the vaccine rollout can be improved and when more mass vaccination clinics could open up.

“Literally, it went from a concept on a Friday to operational planning over that weekend and we continued with the planning,” said PEMA director Randy Padfield.

Logistics for many teacher vaccination clinics, including one held at Heinz Field Thursday, are being handled by the agency.

“We can stand these up in a relatively short period of time and scale their operation on up,” Padfield said.

The National Guard and AMI are handling the vaccination process on the ground with the help of the intermediate units. The state has refused the guard to be used for vaccine distribution until now.

“It’s not that we’re hesitant to use them. It’s just making sure we’re using them in the right circumstances. Their medical unit is relatively small compared to the size of the National Guard,” Padfield said.

He said the state could soon get more involved but wouldn’t give a timetable on when more mass vaccination clinics could pop up in our area.

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Cox Media Group