The Pennsylvania Department of Health has reduced the number of COVID-19 vaccinations that have been reported by about 500,000. The numbers were released Friday evening without an explanation. Despite the removal of duplicates, the state reported an increase of 60,000 fully vaccinated individuals.
The data included numbers from 66 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Philadelphia County was the lone county not included, as it is a separate vaccine jurisdiction.
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 spokesperson stated that the data now more accurately reflects the number of people who have received the first dose of a two-dose vaccine.
After the correction, the state has now recorded 11.3 million total vaccine doses. This is down from 11.8 million before the correction. It also that showed around 5.5 million have been fully vaccinated, up 64,000 from the last report.
The spread of COVID-19 has declined rapidly in the state over the last few months.