Bucks County IU Unveils COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic: See Inside

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Nearly 10,000 school teachers, employees and contractors in Bucks County are expected to receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, which is hosting its first vaccination clinic at its headquarters through next week.

The Bucks County IU, which provides programs and services to public and private schools in the county, is one of 28 participating intermediate units across the state that are hosting vaccination clinics for teachers and school employees as part of a statewide effort to get teachers vaccinated and open up more schools. The state has set aside a total of 94,000 doses of the J&J single-dose COVID-19 vaccine for school employees and contractors during the first phase of the program.

Appointments are being scheduled through the Bucks IU in collaboration with the county's 13 public school district, three career technical centers and nonpublic schools.

More than 500 people received the vaccine at the IU clinic on Wednesday, according to Mark Hoffman, Executive Director of the BCIU.

"We approximate 4,700 school employees and contractors will be vaccinated on this site with the J&J vaccine in this first round," Hoffman said.

@BucksIU22 Executive Director Mark Hoffman gives reporters a tour of the Bucks County Intermediate Unit’s vaccination clinic for teachers and school support staff in Bucks County pic.twitter.com/ZlSNPzsqsF
— Peter Blanchard (@peterlblanchard) March 11, 2021

While state officials launched the program with the hope of opening more schools to in-person instruction, many schools in Bucks County, including the districts of Central Bucks and Council Rock, have already opened.

"I would say in Bucks County there are many school districts where this vaccine isn't the reason they're going back to in-person instruction," Hoffman said. "They worked very hard through their health and safety plans to reopen classrooms as early as the fall. We see this vaccine as just one more essential step to making sure we stay open, and for those colleagues who aren't yet open in person, this is one more step to get them there."

The clinic will run through March 17 but is expected to resume again by April when the agency receives more doses of the vaccine, he added.

"By the end of April, we hope that all educators, contractors, and school employees that want a vaccine through this initiative will be able to get one," Hoffman said.

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