Chester County Hospital, Health Dept. Making Large-Scale Vax Plan

WEST CHESTER, PA — The success of Saturday's mass vaccination event in West Chester will serve as a model for large scale vaccination going forward, the Chester County Commissioners' Office said today.

Two of Chester County’s leading COVID-19 vaccine providers came together on Saturday for a one-day clinic that vaccinated close to 1,500 individuals in Phase 1A against COVID-19.

This event at West Chester University’s Sturzebecker Health Sciences Center combined the vaccine dose supply received by Chester County Hospital with the vaccine clinic operational resources of the Chester County Health Department; the operational partners were able to quickly administer Pfizer first-dose vaccines to those in Phase 1A who were registered with the Chester County Health Department and Chester County Hospital.

"The partnership establishes a model that can be replicated as hospitals throughout Chester County continue to receive vaccine doses from the PA Department of Health, alongside doses received by the Chester County Health Department," the county said today in a news release.

Saturday’s clinic was an extension of the week-day clinics already established by the Chester County Health Department at West Chester University’s Sturzebecker Health Sciences Center, as well as at the Chester County Government Services Center and Kennett Square Fire Company’s Red Clay Room.

More than 70 people worked the clinic on Saturday, 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.

The Chester County Commissioners said they continue to work on behalf of all county residents, to appeal to the PA Department of Health on the need for more vaccine doses in more highly populated areas of the state, and to ask that priority be given to the Chester County Health Department as a vaccine provider.

"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," said County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michelle Kichline.

"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," added the commissioners.

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