Four federal lawmakers who represent Pennsylvania are calling on the governor to review the current vaccination distribution plan, improve upon its weakness and start thinking about the rollout for the next phase.

Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, Madeleine Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon and Susan Wild announced Monday afternoon that they had penned a letter to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. Houlahan and Dean represent portions of Berks County.

In the letter, they share that they have heard from community leaders about the struggles and frustrations they are encountering as the commonwealth navigates the COVID vaccination process.

Much of that stems from the state changing who is eligible to receive a vaccine in the first phase of distribution.

Phase 1A of the vaccination rollout plan was originally limited to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. But that was later expanded to include anyone age 65 and older and those age 16 to 64 with one of numerous risk factors.

The result was a huge increase in the number of people eligible for the vaccine. A total of 4 million residents are now eligible for the vaccine to complete Phase 1A.

The high demand and lagging supply have left many who are eligible unable to get a vaccine. And it has pushed back the other phases of the distribution plan.

"We appreciate your efforts to communicate with lawmakers at all levels of government to discuss the challenges the commonwealth is facing and your administration's plans to accelerate vaccine deployment," they wrote. "Although we are making some progress vaccinating the 1A population, a lot of obstacles and questions remain, especially for those not in the 1A population."
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The lawmakers said that as Pennsylvania struggles to meet demand they are hearing from individuals in the next phase who are concerned it will be months before a vaccine becomes available to them. That group includes first responders, agricultural producers and other essential workers.

The lawmakers said they are particularly worried about those who work in schools getting vaccines as quickly as possible so that they can return to the classroom. 

"Getting our children safely back into the classroom would have myriad benefits — not only alleviating many pressures on working families and allowing people to return to work but also beginning to reverse the toll that the pandemic has taken on students' educational outcomes and mental health," they wrote.

The lawmakers urged the governor to have his team begin the process of planning for those 1B vaccinations now so that teachers and other frontline workers can have more certainty about how and when they will be able to be vaccinated.

"We encourage you to ensure that representatives from these essential worker groups have a seat at the table for all planning so that they can communicate directly with your team about what approaches will work best for them and as a result for our children and families," they wrote.

They suggested Wolf explore adopting best practices from other states and jurisdictions that might speed up vaccine deployment. This could include utilizing the National Guard for logistics or working with the federal government to open mass vaccination sites.

In the meantime, the lawmakers said they will continue to advocate for additional federal funding for Pennsylvania as well as an increased allocation of vaccines.

"We stand ready to work with you in any way we can to accelerate vaccine deployment," they wrote.