Forget Meghan and Harry. The hottest story in Pennsylvania this past week is the frustration so many are feeling over the difficulty of securing a COVID-19 shot.

Between vaccine hotlines that never connect, nepotism and favoritism in the distribution system and debacles like a Walmart-sponsored vaccination clinic in Luzerne County that was somehow fully booked, largely by non-locals, before it was publicly announced, folks are anxious and angry.

Take it from us. We get their calls. They are livid.

They have good reason to be. But the problem is not just a local one. And the blame lies squarely with the Wolf administration.

Pennsylvania ranks near the bottom for its rate of fully immunized residents at 9.1%, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, behind every state save New Hampshire, California, Texas and Alabama.

In that context, Luzerne County, with its 12.5% full-immunization rate, is not faring too badly, ranking 13th among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties and well ahead of the 9.9% national average.

But all Pennsylvanians could be closer to full immunization had the Wolf administration and state Health Department had a more coherent plan for distribution, with more mass vaccination sites, less reliance on small providers and a sign-up process that took the number of seniors without Internet access into account.

With an expected surge in vaccine availability — President Joe Biden announced Wednesday the federal government will secure an additional 100 million doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine — one hopes Pennsylvania officials will learn from the missteps of the past two months and ensure a more efficient rollout.

If not, they will be hearing from a populace fed up with pandemic restrictions and feeling abandoned by those in charge.

— The Citizens’ Voice

Wilkes-Barre/TNS