Vaccine distribution is an ongoing issue, and some locations have administered doses intended as second doses to new patients, The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Wednesday. In an effort to ensure that individuals receive their second vaccine while it is beneficial, the window for the second vaccine is being expanded.

“As the Department of Health continues to review and improve the complex processes necessary to get COVID-19 vaccine from the manufacturers into the arms of Pennsylvanians as quickly as possible, we discovered some providers inadvertently administered the Moderna vaccine shipped to them intended as second doses, as first doses,” Acting Secretary Alison Beam said. “We are taking immediate action to remedy the situation and are committed to ensuring that second doses are available.

“After careful review and discussion with legislators on Governor Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force, we have a clear path forward that may include adjusting the timing of second dose administration following CDC guidelines that set the minimum time between doses at 21 and 28 days and the maximum time at 42 days.”

Communication issues and a lack of outreach to providers have been cited as the cause for this unintended misuse of the delivered vaccines.

Beam noted the intent is to work with local vaccine providers to help them better understand the delivery of first and second dose vaccines. This and the extension of time between doses can minimize any disruption to first dose vaccinations, Beam explained. The extension does not exceed CDC recommendations.

“We are in the desert with little water to drink,” Sen. Art Haywood, Senate Democratic Caucus Task Force member, said. “So it is with a scarce vaccine. Now, we can’t waste the first dose of vaccine by not giving the second.”

Task force members noted that this is the first issue faced by the bipartisan group, and felt it was handled in real time and in an efficient bipartisan manner. The focus continues to be to get vaccines to PA residents quickly and efficiently, and that includes making sure that individuals get both required doses in a timely manner.

“Our task force is laser focused on getting the vaccine into the arms of every eligible Pennsylvanian,” said House Democratic Caucus Task Force member, Rep. Bridget Kosierowski. “The supply clearly does not meet the demand. It is pertinent that we have the second doses available to providers that have already administered the first dose. I am very optimistic that the supply will continue to increase as we enter into the next phase of the vaccine rollout.”

State health officials explained that Pennsylvania has been allocated 183,575 first doses of vaccine; and 143,275 second doses of vaccine this week. In addition, the federal government is sending thousands of vaccine doses directly to Rite Aid and Topco stores in Pennsylvania under the Federal Retail Pharmacy Partnership program. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health receives its own, separate allocation of the vaccine.

“The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are both two-dose vaccines,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “While the second dose was given either three or four weeks later during the clinical trials, the CDC has provided some leeway in the schedule given the limited amounts of vaccine available. Immunologically, waiting six weeks after the first dose to administer the second dose will surely result in the same booster response as that found during the three to four week interval.”

As of Thursday, local vaccine providers across the state have administered 1,749,949 doses, which breaks down to 82 percent of first doses (1,313,538 of the 1,610,175 allocated) and 38 percent of the second doses (436,411 of the 1,156,225 allocated).

On Feb. 12, Secretary Beam signed an order that requires vaccine providers to deliver 80 percent of doses within seven days of the vaccine’s delivery. Also, vaccine providers are required to provide a phone number where people can speak to an individual to make an appointment. All vaccine providers are required, through this order, to report data on race and ethnicity of all those who are vaccinated at that location.