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For some seniors, scheduling vaccines has been a difficult process

Newswatch 16's Nikki Krize spoke with the director of an Area Agency on Aging office to see if people in central Pennsylvania are on track.

SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Since Pennsylvania started administering COVID-19 vaccinations, the big question on people's minds has been, "When is it my turn"? Now we have those answers as Gov. Wolf, and the Department of Health laid out plans to vaccinate the rest of the state.

But for many people in phase 1A of the state's plan, it hasn't been easy to get an appointment. The governor recently said everyone in phase 1A should have at least one shot or an appointment for a vaccine by March 31.

RELATED: State updating vaccine strategy

"Everybody I talked to, even in the areas in the west and east, it does seem to be making progress," said Holly Kyle, executive director of the Union Snyder County Area Agency on Aging.

Kyle thought the governor's goal was an aggressive one at first, but over the last few days, Kyle has seen a lot of progress in central Pennsylvania.

"People are being registered. I'm hearing every day about new opportunities for people to get the vaccine."

Kyle says the biggest issues her office has seen were in Snyder County, where there is no hospital. The Family Practice Center stopped receiving vaccines for a short time, closing doors for people in Snyder County. Now, Family Practice is getting and giving vaccines again.

"It's not all of their locations, but if that's a source for us and our senior population to go to then, that's huge."

In the last few days, Walmarts in Snyder and Union Counties started giving the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. Kyle believes the J&J vaccine will be good for homebound seniors.

"What it's probably going to entail is having a visiting nurse organization or a paramedic be able to go into people's homes," Kyle said.

If seniors have questions about scheduling their COVID-19 vaccines, Kyle recommends contacting their county's Area Agency on Aging office for help.

RELATED: How to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment in Pennsylvania

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