An amended order from the state Tuesday calls for COVID-19 vaccine providers to schedule vaccinations for all state residents in group 1A by March 31.

The order from acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam also requires providers to make appointments with patients outside of their current patient network.

“This order requires vaccine providers to use all reasonable efforts to meet this goal by the end of the month,” Beam said. “Providers also are encouraged to consider other barriers to vaccination, such as transportation issues, and tackle those so that our most vulnerable can most easily access the vaccine.”

Beam said providers should consider using mobile clinics to vaccinate people without access to transportation.

To support vaccine providers, the health department will update vaccine allocation information on its website, so that eligible Pennsylvanians can see which providers have vaccines and the variety of ways vaccines are being provided.

To meet the March 31 deadline, the department directs weekly vaccine first-dose allocations to providers that administer vaccine most efficiently under the guidelines of a Feb. 12 order. The order requires providers to administer at least 80% of their first doses of vaccine within seven days of receiving the doses, adhere to the state vaccination plan and current phase of the vaccine rollout, and report the race, ethnicity and county residence of everyone they vaccinate.

All providers that require and request second doses of vaccine will receive them, so that people can return to their original provider to get their second dose, the department said.

This week, providers will receive 278,670 first/single doses and 242,270 second doses of vaccine. From December 2020 through March 20, the state has allocated nearly 4.7 million vaccine doses from the federal government.

To date, 3,835,484 doses have been administered, including more than 1.1 million to people over age 65.

“Once we have everyone in phase 1A scheduled, we will be working closely with vaccine providers and county leaders to set up community vaccination clinics and to vaccinate front line workers,” Beam said.

She said the plan is designed to get everyone in Phase 1A scheduled, vaccinate workers in targeted industries and have everyone who wishes to be vaccinated eligible by May 1.

Group 1A includes long-term care facility residents, health care workers, people age 65 and older and people ages 16 to 64 with certain health conditions.

The daily coronavirus update from the health department shows 28 new cases and two new deaths in the county, increasing the number of cases to 9,242 and the number of deaths to 377 among the county's 187,853 residents since the pandemic began.

Statewide, 3,119 new cases raises the total to 970,717 and 65 new deaths raises the total to 24,652 among the state population of 12.8 million.

The following numbers on the coronavirus pandemic were compiled from regular news releases from the state Department of Health.COVID-19 statistics from Tuesday are:<b>Butler County</b>Confirmed cases: 9,242Probable cases: 5,270Negative tests: 47,459Deaths: 377<b>Pennsylvania</b>New cases: 3,119Total cases: 970,717New deaths: 65Total deaths: 24,652Recovered: 92%<b>Surrounding Counties</b>Allegheny: 62,462 confirmed cases; 369,670 negative; and 1,770 deathsArmstrong: 3,936 confirmed; 15,181 negative; and 117 deathsBeaver: 10,613 confirmed; 46,453 negative; and 353 deathsClarion: 1,758 confirmed; 8,174 negative; and 87 deathsLawrence: 4,717 confirmed; 18,573 negative; and 190 deathsMercer: 6,629 confirmed; 27,565 negative; and 244 deathsVenango: 2,790 confirmed; 10,739 negative; and 89 deathsWestmoreland: 19,442 confirmed; 88,970 negative; and 689 deaths