The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their data on Pennsylvania's vaccination rate on Wednesday, with a correction resulting in a five-point percentage decrease from Tuesday.
The data correction, which shows an accurate vaccination rate of 68.9% of all residents aged 18 and older, is down from a previously reported rate of 73.7%, which accounts for a reduction of about 1.2 million vaccine doses.
"On Nov. 23, the CDC began to rectify their data to match Pennsylvania COVID-19 vaccine data," the state's
Health Department said, adding that they anticipate the CDC will update their data for other states in the coming weeks.
The
Inquirer reported earlier this month that the CDC has had issues with their Pennsylvania COVID-19 data since as early as July's
data cleanup, over-counting initial vaccine doses and "slightly undercounting" fully vaccinated people. This came following Governor Tom Wolf's declaration at the beginning of 2021, in which he touted a record 95% of Pennsylvanians had received their first COVID-19 vaccination.
Still, Pennsylvania remains a state with a high number of vaccinations, with Wednesday's update noting that the state is still ranked 5th in the nation for total doses administered.
As a result of the holiday weekend, the Pennsylvania Department of Health will release an update of their data on Monday.
As of Wednesday, there were 7,569 additional positive cases of COVID-19 across the state, with 3,349 people currently hospitalized for illness related to the disease, according to the Department of Health.
Experts continue to encourage vaccination as the best protection from infection or spread of COVID-19. Anyone aged 5 and older is eligible to be vaccinated, and anyone aged 18 or older is eligible to receive a booster vaccine dose six months following their second dose. Those interested can find available
vaccine appointments using this online tool.
