With the goal of getting as many shots in as many arms as possible, Chester County Hospital and the Chester County Health Department joined forces for a one-day clinic. During Saturday’s event, 1,500 people received their first dose of the COVID vaccine.
“With the public health know-how, the planning, resources, and the ability to invest in clinics and staff, we are best-placed to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to everyone in Chester County who wants it,” a prepared statement from Chester County Commissioners said.
Like the Black Doctors Consortium, which was able to vaccinate 4,000 in Philadelphia in a 24-hour pop-up clinic Friday to Saturday, Chester County’s day-long clinic was set up with the idea of vaccinating as many people as quickly as possible, from the 1A category – or those determined most likely to suffer from the effects of the COVID-19 virus. Those vaccinated Saturday were registered with the county health department and hospital.
The Chester County Commissioners, Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, and Chester County Hospital President and CEO Mike Duncan with Chester County Health Department Director Jeanne Franklin at the COVID-19 vaccine clinic held at West Chester University’s Sturzebecker Health Sciences Center on Saturday. (COURTESY Chester County)
Set up in West Chester State University’s Sturzebecker Health Sciences Center, the clinic was staffed by over 70 people – including public health nurses and officials from the health department, a pharmacist, and pharmacy technicians from Chester County Hospital, and 40 volunteers from the Chester County Medical Reserve Corps.
Unfortunately for Chester County residents, the issue remains supply. Chester and its neighboring communities — Montgomery, Delaware, and Philadelphia — continue to plead to the Pennsylvania State Department of Health for more vaccines to highly-populated areas and asks that the county health department be given priority as a vaccine provider.
“Not just large-scale clinics, but also smaller clinics at places like senior centers and community centers, and through our mobile clinics, that will ensure all of our residents have access to the vaccine,” the commissioners said in a statement.
