Pennsylvania Says It Counted 500K Duplicate COVID-19 Shots
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's Department of Health has reduced the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses that had been administered by about 500,000, saying the numbers were duplicates.
The figures, released Friday evening without explanation, also showed an increase of about 60,000 in the number of people who are counted as fully vaccinated.
The numbers include 66 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. They do not include Philadelphia, which is its own vaccine jurisdiction.
For all 67 counties, the percentage of people 18 and over who are vaccinated was 61%, up slightly with the change in data.
Asked about the changed figures, a Department of Health spokesperson said agency staff had been working to link both first and second doses to individual residents.
As a result, they were removing duplicated data that resulted from providers using software that did not include a unique patient identifier or uploading duplicate data, or people getting first and second doses from different providers.
The data now more accurately reflects the number of people who have received the first of a two-dose vaccine, the spokesperson said.
Friday's data showed just under 11.3 million total vaccine doses, down from Thursday's figure of 11.8 million. It also showed over 5.5 million people fully vaccinated, up 64,000 from Thursday's figure.
Transmission rates in Pennsylvania have remained stable after a long decline during the spring as more people got vaccinated.
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