Heinz Field could be covid-19 vaccine distribution site, but not enough doses available yet

Heinz Field has been offered up as a possible site for a mass covid-19 vaccine distribution — but there are no imminent plans to do so as Pennsylvania scrambles to get enough vaccine doses to people in top-priority groups.

“We previously offered Heinz Field for use as a vaccination site and we are still in discussions to make that happen,” Steelers spokesman Burt Lauten told the Tribune-Review on Friday evening. “The plans are not finalized as of now.”

In a letter to President Joe Biden obtained by The Associated Press, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that he wanted to assure the federal government that they could make use of 30 more stadiums, including Heinz Field. Seven NFL stadiums already are administering the coronavirus vaccine, including clubs in Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Houston, Miami and Boston.

“We look forward to further discussion with your administration as well as your partners in state and local governments to advance this effort,” Goodell wrote to Biden in the letter, which was dated Thursday.

Goodell said the offer on vaccination sites was made in conjunction with the NFL inviting 7,500 vaccinated health care workers to attend the Super Bowl for free on Sunday. Kansas City is playing Tampa Bay in the Buccaneers’ home stadium.

“Our efforts will not stop there,” Goodell wrote to Biden, who took office last month with a goal of vaccinating 100 million people in the first 100 days of his administration.

MLB teams also have stepped up as vaccine distributors — including Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, Minute Maid Park in Houston, Petco Park in San Diego, home to the Padres, and Citi Field in New York, home to the Mets.

On Saturday, Allegheny Health Network announced that it was holding an appointment-only vaccination event at PNC Park. Patients aged 75 and older who pre-registered to receive the covid-19 vaccination were eligible to take the shot.

Last month, the Pittsburgh Pirates said they were meeting with officials at AHN and Highmark for the potential to use PNC Park as a covid-19 vaccination center.

“The ballpark can allow for mass vaccinations to be done in a safe and socially distanced manner,” team spokesman Brian Warecki said in a statement at the time.

Some sites have been vaccinating people in other states for weeks.

State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., home to the NFL’s Cardinals, has used its parking lot as a 24/7 vaccination drive-thru center, and Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, home to the Dolphins, also has a drive-thru center.

Pa. lags behind most of nation in vaccine distribution

A shortage of vaccine doses available remains the biggest obstacle to setting up such large-scale distributions in the region and statewide.

Pennsylvania is ranked tied for 39th among the 50 states in terms of the percentage of people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

As of Wednesday, about 1.9% of the 12.8 million people in Pennsylvania were fully vaccinated, according to AP data compiled from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Census Bureau.

West Virginia leads the country with 4% of its population being fully vaccinated.

Nationwide, about 56 million doses have been distributed and 8.2% of the population has received at least one dose, data show.

Throughout Western Pennsylvania , vaccine providers say they still have difficulty scheduling and administering vaccines when they don’t know how much supply they’ll get week to week.

In one of the first major options available to people older than 65 who are not health care workers, Allegheny County has been vaccinating seniors at a Monroeville clinic — but with only 750 or so spots available per week, demand has far outpaced supply and newly available appointments are filling up within hours or less.

On Thursday, Allegheny County opened up for the first time phone registration for vaccine appointments to people who are 65 or older using United Way’s 2-1-1 helpline. But the line became “overrun” within less than a half hour and was intercepted by scammers telling callers they had to buy gift cards to get an appointment.

RELATED: Scams, high demand shut down Allegheny County phone lines for vaccine appointments

Allegheny County is not taking any pre-registrations for vaccine appointments from eligible recipients — as some other departments in Chester and Delaware counties have been doing.

“We do not have a wait list as the only vaccine that we can direct or coordinate is our own,” county spokesman Amie Downs said by email. “We are, however, pushing information and announcements out through Allegheny Alerts, which is serving that purpose.”

Earlier on Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 138 new covid-19 deaths and 4,688 more cases, though the seven-day average continues to trend downward. More than 3,000 people are hospitalized for treatment of the coronavirus disease, including 1,634 who are on ventilators.

Since March, nearly 862,000 people have tested positive for covid and 22,239 people have died of the disease, state data show.

The Associated Press contributed.

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