COVID-19 vaccine allocation in southeastern Pennsylvania counties hasn’t been unfair, Wolf says

Getting as many people vaccinated as possible is arguably the biggest step toward normalcy. However, getting the shot continues to be a frustrating process for many people, especially in southeastern Pennsylvania counties.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf says COVID-19 vaccine allocation to Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties hasn't been unfair.

After a tour of a new vaccine clinic in Lancaster and a press conference highlighting transportation options for those in southcentral counties, FOX 29 asked him about the southeastern counties where leaders sent a letter this week saying they were shortchanged and are calling on more doses and more data.

Gov. Wolf once again pointed to demand far outweighing supply from the federal government and county vaccine rates, which shows the four counties at or above the state’s average of 15%.

"If those percentages include people that are leaving their county to get vaccinated is that not an equity issue," FOX 29’s Kelly Rule asked.

"The equity by county may or may not conform to what we’re trying to do here," Wolf said. "Were not where demand is and that’s clear but we’re doing everything we can to be equitable and again inoculation into arms."

Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners Dr. Valerie Arkoosh says the problem with those county vaccine percentages is they still have not seen the supporting data behind it.

"Why hasn’t that been public?" Rule asked.

"I think that we have shared that information and again, each day we’re getting more and more people vaccinated," Wolf said.

FOX 29 did request that data again Wednesday. Wolf did say supply from the federal government is improving.

Delaware County officials say they saw an increase this week, but Montgomery County did not.

"It’s been enormously frustrating and we’re just asking for simple transparency here," Arkoosh said.

RELATED:

Counties in southeastern Pa. 'frustrated' by lack of transparency over vaccine distribution

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Report details undersupply of vaccine distributed to Philadelphia suburban counties

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