Chester County is frustrated that it is receiving fewer doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by population than counties much smaller, writes Maria Panaritis for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Officials have requested that FEMA set up a vaccination site in Philadelphia’s collar counties to get more doses to the 2.5 million residents in the four-county region.

An Inquirer analysis shows that Chester County’s 524,989 people received only 14,748 doses per 100,000 people as of Feb. 24. Meanwhile, Elk County (pop. 29,910) in the state’s northwestern quadrant got the equivalent of 45,721 doses per 100,000 people.

The Chester County Commissioners wrote a letter to the state’s acting Health Secretary, Alison Beam, that asked why there is such a discrepancy.

“I think they were a little bewildered as well at first,” Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz. “The acting secretary was in for only one week when she got our letter. It’s never come back to us with, ‘This is why it’s happened,’ or, ‘This is what we’re doing to correct those kind of things.’ I really don’t know. They’ve never come back and told us why.”

Chester County is currently ranked 29th in the state by dose rate.

“We know how frustrating and difficult this process has been,” said Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell. “There are simply more obstacles than there should be to get a vaccine.”

Click here to read more about Chester County’s frustration with its vaccine shortage in The Philadelphia Inquirer.