Healthcare networks in Schuylkill County offer vaccines for youngest children

Christine Lee, Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa.
·2 min read

Jul. 9—Appointments can be scheduled for the youngest children to get vaccinated against COVID-19 through Schuylkill County's three health care networks.

Appointments for children six months to 4 years can be scheduled online through Lehigh Valley Health Network, Geisinger and St. Luke's University Health Network. The Designated COVID-19 hotlines can also be used to get information on scheduling.

The vaccine, made by Pfizer-BioNTech, requires three shots, each dose one-tenth that of the vaccine given to adults. The first two doses are provided three weeks apart and the third at least two months later.

Additionally, LVHN has scheduled vaccine clinics for the youngest children in the Wall auditorium at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Schuylkill E. Norwegian Street. They will take place from noon to 6 p.m. Monday; Aug. 1; and Sept. 26.

Officials at LVHN say that side effects of the vaccine are mild and include chills, decreased appetite, drowsiness, irritability, fever, headache, muscle aches, nausea or vomiting and pain, swelling and/or redness at the injection site.

In Schuylkill County, 63% of eligible residents are fully vaccinated.

Testing available

Officials at the state Department of Health announced this week they are expanding all COVID-19 community-based testing sites operated in partnership with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare to three forms of free testing: point-of-care tests, where tests are performed and results are analyzed on-site; distributing at-home COVID-19 antigen tests; and PCR tests.

Testing is available from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday through Sept. 9 in the parking lot of Direct Link Technologies at 2561 Bernville Road, outside Reading. The parking lot can be accessed from Van Reed Road.

County numbers

Cases of COVID-19 decreased slightly from last week in Schuylkill County, figures from the state DOH show.

For the week ending at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, there were 131 cases reported, down from 162 the week prior. There have been 36,451 cases of COVID-19 reported since the pandemic started in March 2020.

There were no deaths reported, leaving the total at 694.

Hospitalizations also went down, with 12 people in the hospital with COVID-19 in Schuylkill County, compared to 18 last week. One person is in an intensive care unit and no one was on a ventilator.

Across the country, cases have increased as BA.5, a subvariant of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, becomes the dominant strain.

Contact the writer: clee@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6028; @Cleespot on Twitter