Pa.'s Department of Health Phase 1A Vaccination Plan

The Blair County Emergency Management Agency is working cooperatively with Conemaugh Nason Medical Center, Penn Highlands Tyrone, UPMC Altoona Hospital, and Encompass Heath Rehabilitation Hospital to assure that COVID-19 Vaccinations are provided to all those agencies that are part of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Phase 1A Vaccination Plan.

Effective January 6, 10% of each vaccine shipment to these area hospitals are to be utilized for vaccination of Phase 1A non-hospital-affiliated health care personnel. Included in this group are the following but not limited to:

Emergency medical services personnel

Nurses, nursing assistants, physicians, technicians, phlebotomists, pharmacists, students and trainees

Direct support professionals

Clinical personnel in school settings and or correctional facilities

Contractual staff not employed by the health care facility

Persons not directly involved in patient care but potentially exposed to infectious agents that can be transmitted among health care personnel and patients (e.g., clerical, dietary, environmental services, laundry, security, maintenance, engineering and facilities management, administrative, billing and volunteers.)

If you are responsible for an agency within this 1A group and have a current relationship with one of the hospitals in your area, we highly recommend you get in touch with your contact there to make arrangements for scheduling your vaccinations.

For those working with UPMC, go to UPMC.com/HealthCareVaccine to fill out a form to register your organization or call 833-299-4358 to receive a link to request a form.

If you don’t have a hospital contact or are unsure if your agency is eligible for vaccination as part of the 1A group, please call Blair County Emergency Management at 814-940-5900 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

It is our collaborative goal to get all those personnel in your agency scheduled to receive the vaccine with one of the hospitals in a timely and orderly manner. Blair County EMA will communicate with the hospitals directly for scheduling of the individual agencies. The schedules may fluctuate based upon the amount of available vaccines at any given time.

The contact person at each of the 1A agencies will be notified in advance with the date, time, and location to receive their vaccines.

For this strategy to be successful, it is vital that each agency assure their personnel are reporting to the selected hospital on the date and time they were scheduled, along with proper identification.

It is extremely important we complete this round of vaccinations to protect this healthcare group on the frontlines and so future vaccines can be made available to those age 75 and older along with the others in the Phase 1B group according to the plan. A copy of the Pennsylvania Department of Health COVID-19 Vaccination Plan can be found at http://www.health.pa.gov/topics/Documents/Programs/Immunizations/Vaccine%20Plan%20V.3%20FINAL.pdf.

This information, as well as additional information as it becomes available, including any updates on when vaccinations for other groups will begin, will be added to the Blair County Department of Emergency Services website at http://www.blairco.org/Dept/EmergencyMgmt/Pages/COVID19.aspx.