Pennsylvania dropping vaccine provider map in favor of feds’

Pennsylvania is doing away with its own map of vaccine providers and says people looking for a COVID-19 shot should go to the federal government’s provider map.

The state Health Department said Friday it will use vaccines.gov as its mapping source effective immediately.

That map allows people to search for COVID-19 vaccine by brand name and see which providers have vaccine in stock. Information from the site also shows up in Apple Maps and Google Maps and powers Siri voice search.

The map, dubbed Vaccine Finder, was developed by Boston Children’s Hospital, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has been previously used for flu vaccine and others.

“Our goal is to make it quick and easy for people to get vaccinated and to help overcome any hesitancy,” Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam said in a statement. “We know that some people may be looking for a certain brand of vaccine or want to know which locations have vaccine in stock. This transition provides the best information to Pennsylvanians who want to get vaccinated as we work to reach at least 70% of adults vaccinated.”

Pennsylvania plans to drop its mask mandate once it reaches that threshold. Just over 64% of adults in Pennsylvania have gotten at least one dose, according to CDC data. More than 43% of the adult population are fully vaccinated.