Lower Bucks Hospital To Get COVID-19 Vaccine This Week
BRISTOL, PA — Lower Bucks Hospital in Bristol is scheduled to be one of three hospitals in Bucks County to receive doses of a COVID-19 vaccine this week.
More than 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BionNtech vaccine are set to arrive in Pennsylvania this week as coronavirus cases continue to surge throughout the commonwealth. Lower Bucks was on a state list of sites receiving the vaccine, along with Doylestown Hospital and St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne.
Bucks County Health Department Director Dr. David Damsker said he expects all of the county's hospitals to receive vaccine doses in later shipments.
Healthcare workers are the first in line to receive the doses, followed by EMS first responders, staff at long-term care facilities and vulnerable populations.
"This is a pivotal development in the fight against COVID-19, in Pennsylvania and the nation," said state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. "This limited supply of vaccine signals the start of the process to end COVID-19's devastating impacts on every community in the commonwealth."
Levine said Monday that Pennsylvania is expected to receive 97,500 doses this week, which will be distributed at 83 hospitals throughout the state. Another shipment of the Pfizer vaccine is expected next week, but exact amounts are not yet known, Levine said. That's in addition to the more than 13,000 doses Philadelphia will receive through its own vaccination plan.
She noted that it will be several months before enough of the vaccine is available to the general public. She said it "might be spring into summer" before everyone in Pennsylvania who wants a vaccine can get one and reminded residents of the importance of wearing a mask and social distancing.
Bucks County reported a record 3,366 new infections last week, with an average of 481 new cases per day. Forty-five deaths were attributed to COVID during November and 60 for the first 12 days of December.
The first deliveries of the vaccine have already arrived at some Pennsylvania hospitals, including at the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville.
Patch's Peter Blanchard contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on the Bensalem Patch
