. HARRISBURG Republicans in the Pennsylvania House are advancing a measure that would give the legislature more power over the executive branch, the result of long-festering resentment against Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf over his actions to control the coronavirus pandemic. The constitutional amendment would require the governor to seek approval to continue an emergency order after 21 days, and give the legislature the ability to end such a declaration unilaterally at any time.
Since March, after the state identified its first COVID-19 cases, Wolf has issued or renewed a disaster declaration three times, most recently in November. Such an order greatly expands the executive’s powers, allowing the governor to suspend regulatory provisions, control travel from certain areas, and suspend the sale of guns.
HARRISBURG — Republicans in the Pennsylvania House are advancing a measure that would give the legislature more power over the executive branch, the result of long-festering resentment against Democratic Gov.
Nearly 17,000 Pennsylvania residents were vaccinated for covid-19 since Monday, Health Secretary Rachel Levine said Tuesday afternoon. That puts the statewide total at 311,477 total doses administered across the state.
Pennsylvania officials provided an update on the state’s progress vaccinating members of Phase 1A in the federal guidelines, which includes health care workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities.
Secretary Alex Azar of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said earlier in the day that states should begin moving to vaccinate people 65 years or older a portion of Phase 1B.
Levine said more than 250,000 Pennsylvanians have received one dose of the Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, and more than 30,000 people have been fully vaccinated.
bkibler@altoonamirror.com
Operation Warp Speed is releasing its second-dose reserves of coronavirus vaccines and expanding its eligibility recommendations to include all those over 65 and those as young as 16 who have documented comorbidities, to speed up getting vaccines “into arms,” U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said.
Hospitals and other organizations dispensing shots also should stop worrying about absolute adherence to group priorities a micromanaging approach that makes “perfect the enemy of the good,” said Azar, who plans to incentivize a shift to a more pragmatic outlook by giving states that do better more doses.
HHS is also opening up “more channels” for vaccine administration with a federal partnership involving 19 retail pharmacy companies to provide sites for shots and assistance for states to set up mass vaccination centers, Azar said.