As people eagerly await getting the COVID-19 vaccine, many are asking where and how they will get it.
Dr. David Rottinghaus who is the chief medical officer for the Butler Health System says he’s not sure what role the hospital will play as more vaccine comes onto the market.
“As a system, we’ve been able to, in a single day, give over 400 doses, up to 500 doses of the vaccine,” Rottinghaus said. “But, it requires a lot of coordination, a lot of people. And we just don’t know at this time if we are going to be relied upon by the Commonwealth to mass vaccinate our population.”
Rottinghaus says that when vaccine supply increases, there hasn’t been directive from the state as to where that supply will go and where most people will receive the shot.
“The challenge right now is that we only have so much vaccine, we don’t know how the state will be able to supply us in the future if that amount will significantly go up or perhaps that they’ll push out vaccine to retail pharmacies to extend vaccination capabilities and have multiple sites where vaccine is distributed,” Rottinghaus said.
Ultimately Rottinghaus says Butler Health System is standing by though to play an integral role in vaccine distribution.
“Where we stand right now, is that we want to be a very capable, ready, and willing partner with the state and with our local government, and really lead the way in terms of vaccinating the public,” Rottinghaus said.
“It certainly meets our mission as a system, but we’re just waiting for more information and waiting to see how this will be scaled up.”
