Starting next week,Bucks County will open its first public COVID-19 vaccine clinics at Bucks County Community College's campuses.
Audrey Kenny, interim director of Emergency Services, said 200 doses a day will be delivered at the sites in Bristol, Newtown and East Rockhill townships Tuesday through Saturday, with the supply expected to ramp upto 500 doses a dayby the end of the month.
Vaccines will be provided by appointment only to people in the 1A phase who have signed up on the county's pre-registration site; no walk-ins will be accepted. Residents can still pre-register for an appointment.
The clinics were announced during a news conference Thursday, where the county commissioners again expressed frustration with the slow supply of the vaccine coming from the state and federal governments. They said they cannot open "mass vaccine sites" without enough vaccine.
More:Commissioners defend Bucks' vaccination distribution
"This is not just a Bucks County issue," said commissioner Vice Chair Bob Harvie. "We're in constant contact with the counties around us. All of us are expressing the fact that we are not getting the amount of vaccine we need. Yesterday Montgomery County had to close their vaccination site because they ran out of the vaccine."
More:Montgomery County cancels COVID vaccine clinic for the week amid shortsupply
Health officialssaidBucks County received3,000 doses this week, in addition to 2,000 last week.That number is expected to rise to 5,000by the end of the month.State officials, however notified them, that until supply increases, Bucks County will be capped at 5,000 doses a week.
“We are giving out as much as we can give out,” said Bucks County’s Director of Health, Dr.DavidDamsker. “I hope people arepatient. We are going as fast as we can.”
Officials said they have begun contacting the first 200 of about 110,000 qualifying 1A residents who registeredthrough thecountyportalfor the vaccine. Eligible residents will eithergetaphone call or an email with alinkwith a specific invitation to register for an appointment, which are expected to fill up quickly.
Harvie cautioned against sharing that link or invitation, as identification will be checked at the sites; those not invited could get turned away.
"It is important that when you get that link, to create your appointment," he said. "Do not forward it to someone else, even though you really want to and think someone should get it ahead of you...Whoever registered first, that's who we are going to go to (first). But we are going to keep on eye on who is getting those appointmentsto make sure we are keeping it balanced in terms of people by age orby medical condition."
In the meantime, Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo advised Bucks County residents to continue toseek out other ways to get vaccinated.
"I would encourage people whilewaitingfor the county to get up and running...to be proactive,notonly forthemselvesbut for theirfamily members," said DiGirolamo, who suggested they check on vaccine availability with localhospitals, doctors' offices and pharmacies.
Once the vaccine supply increases, the county will open other clinics and launch a outreach "strike team" plan to vaccinate the county's homeless population and those who are more difficult to reach.
Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia said the county is looking at other sites to open clinics, but did not disclose thoseas they are not opening at this time.Bensalem Mayor Joe DiGirolamo said last week the Neshaminy Mall and the township senior center would be two of those sites, but those have not been confirmed by the county.
Previously, officialssaid theycould be ready with a total of six to eight sites if the county received enough supply to warrant opening them.
More:Bensalem announces vaccine centers at Neshaminy Mall, senior center
County leaders emphasized that of the 75,700 vaccines that have comeinto the county, approximately 86% have gone directly to other providers like hospitals and pharmacies, and the county has no control over their system of distribution, nor their guidelines in prioritizing recipients in the 1A phase.
Bucks County's health department so far has directly received about 7,800 vaccine doses from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which manages the supply.Most of those doses have gone to EMS and front-line health care workers,county officials said.
They confirmed Thursday that some doses have gone to educators in the 1A phasewho work with at-risk populations, such as special education students who cannot wear masks.
In total, more than 200,000county residentshave registered with the county's health department portal, with nearly half of them in the 1A phase.Residents can still register and get on the list to be scheduled.
Where to get the vaccine
In January, when Pennsylvaniaopened up vaccine eligibility to anyone 65 and older and adults with pre-existing medical conditions, demand spiked — but the supply did not.
For those in the 1A phase still struggling to get appointments, the county is urging them to reach out to other vaccine providers and pharmacies that are on the state's distribution list to request appointments, too.
For two months, hospitals in Bucks and Montgomery counties have beenvaccinating staff. Some now areschedulingappointmentsand distributingthe vaccine to the public; others are distributingfirst topatients in their own health systems who meet the eligibility criteria, officials said.
St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown began its vaccination clinic for members of the general public who qualify in phase 1A on Monday.
More:Bucks County hospitals offering COVID vaccines by invitation-only
Many senior citizens have turned to their primary care physicians.Thousands of calls have flooded private doctors' offices across Pennsylvania since the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Butin the case of securing the COVID-19 vaccine, many independent physicians and their patients have been left in the dark.
More:'I feel paralyzed': Primary care doctors wait for COVID-19 vaccines as patients seek answers
More:COVID vaccine distribution in Bucks County: What you need to know
Yetprimary care physicians who aren't affiliated with hospitals are among the last in line to receive and distribute the vaccine to patients, medical leaders say.
As of last week, in theeighth week of the state’s vaccination rollout,about 40 different entities in Bucks County had received some quantity of the vaccine, ranging from a batch of 100 sent to smallpharmacies to thousands sent to larger hospitals, like Doylestown Hospital, which received 15,000 doses,and St. Mary Medical Center,which has received 11,000 doses so far.
More:COVID-19 vaccine in Pa: Which counties got the most doses — and which ones got the least?
More:These 454 Pa. facilities received COVID-19 vaccine shipments last month. Search the list
Doylestown Health offers vaccines at itshospital and Doylestown Health Urgent Care by appointment to patients identified by its primary care physicians and specialists who have a system to prioritize the most vulnerable patients in the 1A category, spokesman Ron Watson said.
St. Mary Medical Centernow runs two clinics, giving thevaccine to eligible community memberswho completeits Phase 1A requestformonline.Grandview Hospital in Sellersville and St. Luke'sQuakertown Hospital are scheduling appointments for patients over age 75
All applications have to be completed online and those who are eligible will get an email or phone call to schedule their vaccine, said Dr. Larry Brilliant, president of St. Mary Medical Center.Later this month Lower Bucks Hospital plans to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine to the firstindividuals who signed up through Bucks County agencies.
When will supply increase?
Pennsylvania'slack of a clearly delineated timeline to distribute the vaccine meshed with a patchwork national rollout that differs from state to state has left many in the state — particularly the elderly who do not live in nursing homes — wondering why and for how longthey willhave to wait.
More:Pennsylvania has no plan for centralized COVID vaccine signup, health officials say
More:Why is it so hard to get a vaccine appointment? Supply and demand
Bucks County has been hesitant to providea timeline for vaccine appointments or distribution without some predictably in when vaccines will arrive. The Bucks County Health Department has administered seven out of every eightvaccines that it has received, but statewide, numbers are lagging.
An analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data found that Pennsylvania has been slower to use all its shipped doses of vaccine than more than 45 other states.
Pennsylvania has administered just over 62% of the doses it has received, according to the analysis. And as of Tuesday, the Department of Health was reporting that 1,352,248 doses of the vaccine have been administered to 1,049,609 people.According to the DOH, 1,049,609 Pennsylvanians have received their first dose of vaccine, and 302,639people have received their second dose of vaccine.
Many people are crossing state and county lines to get vaccinated, including dozens who reported on community social media sites that they got vaccinated in the Lehigh Valley.
The Lehigh Valley Health Network received more than triple the amount of vaccine than the next highest recipient, the Allegheny County Health Department, which includes Pittsburgh. A health department spokeswoman said the network distributes its doses to other providers in surrounding counties.
Harvie criticized the state for its "shotgun" approach in the way in which it distributes the vaccine. He said county leaders across the region have asked the stateto reconsider how they distribute the vaccine, and he called on residents to reach out to their representatives in Harrisburg to voice their concerns.
Bucks County health officials said if supply increases with the approval of two other vaccines, residents of Bucks County who want a vaccine couldget it by summer.
“I'm hoping we can get to the point where there is enough vaccine for thepeoplewho want it by the summer time,” saidDamsker, adding that a timeline iscontingenton whether two other vaccines get FDA approval to boost the supply.
More:This is how you can find out if it’s your turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Pa.
