County near top in state in vaccination rate
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Butler County has had one of the most successful COVID-19 vaccine rollouts in the entire state.
“(Vaccine distribution) has gone really, really well,” said Karen Allen, chief nursing officer at Butler Health System. “It was a huge operation to put together, and it's gone so well for us.”
Allen has served as administrator for the vaccine clinic and as an overseer on the vaccine committee for the health system.
According to the state health department's vaccine database, Butler County has the sixth highest number of fully vaccinated individuals per 100,000 residents, 47,589.4, among Pennsylvania's 67 counties. That number effectively means that about 47.6% of Butler County's population has received either both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the single does of the J&J vaccine. It is the highest rate among all of Butler's surrounding counties other than Allegheny (50.8%).
Armstrong County has 44.8% of its population vaccinated, and Mercer has 38.9%. Other surrounding counties — Venengo, Clarion, Beaver and Lawrence counties — are seeing lower than 37% of their populations vaccinated.
Allen said Butler County has experienced an effective vaccine rollout since the very beginning.BHS learned it would start receiving doses of the vaccine in the second week of December.Initially, Allen said BHS would learn on Mondays how many doses it would receive that week, which made it hard to organize the distribution and almost impossible to plan ahead.“We didn't have enough (doses) in the beginning to meet demand,” Allen said.In February, however, the state recognized BHS as a top performer of vaccine distribution and started sending a consistent supply.“We were expected to give 80% of whatever we got,” Allen said. “We had done a really good job of getting shots in arms, so we were selected as one of the places to receive the consistent doses.”
With a constant supply of the vaccine, BHS was able to organize and plan out its distribution strategy. It set up a phone line with the county to answer questions, worked with home health agencies to get the vaccine to homebound individuals, and started going to churches to speak with people receiving meals or housing.Allen called this BHS' multi-modal approach.As more and more Pennsylvanians became fully vaccinated, the number of people eligible for the vaccine continued to increase. Pennsylvania moved from Phase 1A to Phase 1B and into Phase 1C. Allen said they would see a lot of people who wanted the vaccine right when each new phase started, but had to work to get more and more people signed up as time went on.“When they opened up a phase, three or four days would be pretty full,” Allen said. “The people who desired to get the vaccine would get it right away. Then, things would start to slow down.”
As the vaccine became available to more people, BHS shifted its focus to education, getting information out to the community.BHS added an FAQ page to its website. Doctors would go to talk to groups of people and answer questions.“We're trying to get facts and science out into the community,” Allen said. “Surprisingly, there is hesitation to get it.“Of course, there's a political angle to getting the vaccine, but if you're in the middle of this, you realize there's nothing political about it.”Allen said the most common questions that come up about the vaccine pertain to how safe it is.“A lot of people who are in child-bearing age are worried the vaccine could affect the fetus,” Allen said. “But it's safe. The doctors who are guiding us are saying they can't figure out why it would affect a fetus.”According to Allen, 108,000 vaccine doses have been given at Butler Memorial Hospital, and only two recipients were admitted to the emergency room at the hospital. Both recovered.Allen said people also ask if they need the vaccine if they already had COVID-19 or if they should get the vaccine if they are immunocompromised. It is recommended to get the vaccine even if you had COVID-19, just as an additional layer of protection, and BHS is telling immunocompromised individuals to consult with their personal physicians whether it is safe for them to get the vaccine — and most of the time it is, according to Allen.While the hospital has not mandated that its staff be vaccinated, Allen said a large number has been.“(Hospital staff) were the first people the vaccine was offered to,” Allen said. “Very few health care facilities have mandated it. The (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) hasn't mandated that health care workers be vaccinated, but we wish they would.”
In May, Pennsylvania entered Phase 2, in which anyone over the age of 12 is eligible to receive the vaccine. Since then, BHS started efforts to reach out to children.“We have weekly calls with school superintendents across the county,” Allen said. “Because it became available so close to the end of the school year, the best thing we can do is let them know about the vaccine clinics and send out information.”Allen said the new delta variant of the virus further illustrates the importance of getting vaccinated.“The delta variant numbers continue to grow in the U.S., and currently the vaccine has been effective against it,” Allen said. “If we don't have 70% (of the population vaccinated), the delta variant might go through the unvaccinated population and mutate into something that can go through the vaccine.”
The BHS vaccine clinic is currently located at the Clearview Mall, but will be moved to 127 Crossroads Campus beginning July 2. BHS may move the clinic again in the future depending on what the demand for the vaccine is and how many resources they need to put towards it.The clinic accepts walk-ins or an appointment can be made online at butlerhealthsystem.org.
