WHS Working To Get Vaccine To All Eligible

Vaccine administration has been the most recent hurdle for health care providers to cross in the battle against Covid-19. Washington Health System CEO Brook Ward provided an update to their progress in getting shots into people’s arms. Ward stated that a website dedicated to vaccine distribution only went down after two minutes when it was turned on Monday February, 1. Ward indicated that the site’s popularity is what crashed it several times that day. Improvements have been made to prevent that in the future. Nearly 25,000 people have registered on the site and roughly 1500 people have been scheduled to receive vaccines last week and this week. Patients can expect to gain greater access to vaccines as WHS will be expanding their footprint by using the old Ross Store in the Washington Crown Center, the Recreation Center in Peters Township and a larger facility at the hospital in Waynesburg. Ward states that WHS will have the capability to administer 8000 vaccines per week but that all depends on if the vaccines that are ordered are delivered by the federal government. Ward says that he orders his allotment of vaccines for first and second doses on Wednesday of each week and it is never guaranteed that what is ordered is what is delivered. Ward says cooperation between systems is the best way to get through the scheduling dilemma. He pointed to a coordinated effort between WHS, Mon Valley Hospital and Cornerstone Care to administer vaccines to local schools.