The Butler VA Health Care System continued its vaccination efforts Tuesday, eyeing a depletion of its stock by Thursday.

“Ultimately, the goal is to vaccinate all of the Health Care System's 750 employees and nearly 25,000 Veterans who want to get the vaccine,” said VA spokeswoman Paula McCarl.

By Thursday, the VA will have administered 2,300 first doses and 500 second doses of the Moderna vaccine. Also, running out of doses in a given week is not unusual, because the VA has not withheld any doses.

McCarl said as more vaccine is received, the administration of those doses will restart.

The Butler VA is calling on any veterans enrolled in the system who are age 75 or older and have not been already contacted to contact the call center at 878-271-6753 for additional information about receiving the vaccine.

“Butler VA receives shipments weekly; however, the quantity varies based on supply,” McCarl said. “Each week staff (members) are committed to exhaust all supply on hand.”

State officials also discussed updates regarding the state's distributions, which largely reiterated the fact that there isn't enough vaccine to go around.

“We assumed we were going to have an expanded supply when we went to the 65-and-older (group),” said Gov. Tom Wolf. “That didn't materialize.”

Wolf said it will take about 8 million doses of vaccine to immunize the entire population designated within Phase 1A of the state's distribution plans, which includes about 4 million residents.

“There are clearly a lot of challenges ahead of us,” he said.

Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said the state is set to receive 143,275 first doses and 137,625 second doses of vaccine this week, bringing the total doses the commonwealth has received to more than 1.5 million doses of vaccine.

“The most important thing for Pennsylvanians to remember is that vaccine providers are working quickly as possible,” Beam said. “The demand for vaccine far outweighs the supply, but we will catch up. We must be patient.”

Statewide, vaccine providers have administered the vaccine to 605,633 people, including 473,449 who have received their first dose and 132,184 who have received two doses.

Beam was officially introduced as the replacement for Dr. Rachel Levine, who is now serving as assistant secretary of health in President Joe Biden's administration. Beam drew upon the words of her predecessor as she spoke about continuing where Levine left off.

“We remain laser-focused on saving lives and getting Pennsylvanians vaccinated,” Beam said.

Wolf also introduced the new Interim Acting Physician General Wendy Braund, who agreed with Beam and Wolf on many points.

“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Braund said.

While health officials explained the vaccine distribution delay, largely still revolving around the vaccine's supply, Wolf also commented on signs that the spread of the virus is slowing in the state.

“We've seen a real downturn in terms of cases and deaths,” Wolf said.

Butler County's COVID-19 data Tuesday arrived below average again.

According to Tuesday's report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, one new death and 43 new confirmed cases are being added to Butler County's pandemic-wide totals.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the county has had 8,106 residents test positive for COVID-19, and 312 residents have died because of the virus.

Over the past two weeks, the county has averaged about 55 new cases and four deaths per day.

Beam said health officials are seeing a similar trend at the state level.

The state on Tuesday added a below-average number of new confirmed cases, 4,628, and an above average number of new deaths, 219.

The state has averaged about 5,317 new confirmed cases per day and 55 new deaths.

“Statewide percent positivity is 10.5%,” Beam said. “This represents a continued decrease.”