The state is changing the timing for people to receive their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to a maximum of 42 days after getting the first dose.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Wednesday said it has had communication issues with vaccine providers and learned that some providers used vaccine intended to be second doses for first doses.

“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,” said acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam. “We are taking immediate action to remedy the situation, and are committed to ensuring that second doses are available.”

After discussing the situation with legislators on Gov. Tom Wolf's COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force, the department may adjust the timing of second-dose administration, setting the minimum time between doses at 21 and 28 days and the maximum time at 42 days, Beam said.

The new timing of the second dose follows recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“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,” 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. “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.”

To maximize the amount of vaccine reaching people, the department said it will begin pulling excess inventory from throughout the vaccine provider system to get it to providers that can get 80% of it to people within seven days.

This week, Pennsylvania has been allocated 183,575 first doses of vaccine and 143,275 second doses of vaccine. 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.

This week, a total of 326,850 doses will be allocated through Feb. 20, including 183,575 first doses and 143,275 second doses.

To date, 2,766,400 doses have been allocated through Feb. 20 and a total of 1,749,949 doses have been administered through Feb. 16. Of those doses, 1,313,538 first doses have been administered from the allocation of 1,610,175 doses, and 436,411 second doses have been administered from the allocation of 1,156,225 doses, according to the department.

The department also provided an update on its COVID-19 case investigations and contract tracing efforts.

Between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, there were 26,985 COVID-19 cases statewide and 26%, or 7,016 cases, had a case investigation started within 24 hours of receiving the positive report. An additional 6%, or 1,619 cases, had a case investigation started within 48 hours. The department contacted 6,476 people as a part of an investigation during that week. There are 325 contact tracers working, the department said.

During the same week, contact tracers made 6,401 calls to reach 4,432 people. Of the 3,792 people who were sent contact tracing forms, 1,411 forms were returned. Since the implementation of the form in December through Feb. 6, the department has received more than 7,167 completed forms.

Between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, 5,478 contacts have been processed for areas where the department has jurisdiction; 3,649 people, or 67% of the total contacts identified, have been reached to communicate their quarantine status and offer ongoing symptom monitoring; and 1,829 people, or about 33% of the total contacts, were not reached.

The department also reported 23 new cases and two new deaths in the county.