Pharmacy gets OK to expand clinics
The biggest recipient of vaccine this week in Berks County is The Medicine Shoppe in Boyertown at 2,670 doses, more than each of the two Berks hospitals.
Owner Ed Hudon has been focusing on vaccinating those age 65 and older in the Boyertown School District and he’s been so good at organizing that the state Department of Health has told him he’ll be getting even more vaccine next week.
“We just got an email from the state and we’re going to expand,” he said Thursday, adding that he’ll bring on nurses and pharmacists for the effort.
The vaccine he has are both the Pfizer and Moderna twoshot products.
Hudon’s volunteers are reaching out to those age 65 and older, especially those without internet access, for vaccinations.
“We’re soliciting the seniors to help them get appointments,” he said.
He’s trying to keep that side of the pharmacy’s operation separate from the routine non-COVID matters.
“It’s a lot on my staff,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of calls in the pharmacy that should go to the vaccine (volunteers).
“I need to separate it so that my staff doesn’t get burned out.”
Hudon remains optimistic.
“Everybody will get done. It’s just a matter of time and manpower and doses,” he said.
Another Medicine Shoppe in Shillington is also conducting mass vaccination clinics in the Gov. Mifflin School District under owner Dipak Patel. That pharmacy received 1,170 doses of vaccine this week.
Walmart
Walmart will begin administering Pfizer vaccines in Berks with a clinic inside the gymnasium of the Lausch Administration Building of the Exeter Township School District, 200 Elm St., St. Lawrence, from March 24 to March 26.
The state said eligible Phase 1A patients can schedule at 800-753-8827, option 1, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The three-day clinic is a joint effort with the state Department of Aging.
The Reading Eagle checked the phone number for appointments to find that all are booked for the three-day clinic. However, there is also a chance some might cancel appointments.
Organizers urged residents to not call the school district or show up without an appointment.
The state remains in Phase 1A vaccinations, which includes anyone age 65 and older, plus long-term care facility residents, ambulance crews, nurses, nursing assistants, physicians, dentists, dental hygienists, chiropractors, therapists, phlebotomists, pharmacists, technicians, pharmacy technicians, health professions students and trainees, direct support professionals, clinical personnel in school settings or correctional facilities, contractual health care professionals not directly employed by a health care facility, persons not directly involved in patient care but potentially exposed to infectious material.
Phase 1A also includes anyone age 16-64 with any one of numerous health concerns.
However, the state is looking to turn the page, asking providers to finish scheduling 1A patients by the end of the month.
Rite Aid
Rite Aid said Thursday that it is extending the priority COVID vaccine scheduling period for teachers, school staff and child care providers.
The program involves the two-dose vaccines, not the one-dose shot being given to school employees at the Berks County Intermediate Unit.
Rite Aid will be available exclusively to qualifying educators, school staff and licensed child care program staff on March 19, 20, 26 and 27, the chain said.
The scheduling tool is here.
On the other days, appointments are available for all others in Phase 1A.
New website tool
The state reorganized its webpage for vaccine providers to show the locations that receive vaccine from the state and those that get vaccine directly from the federal government.
Rite Aids are the main outlets for the direct shipments with a few CVS pharmacies and two Weis Markets pharmacies also on the map. Each chain has its own process for registering at their respective websites.
Gov. Tom Wolf and Alison Beam, acting state health secretary, on Thursday again touted statistics that show Pennsylvania’s surging vaccine numbers.
In a press release, they said, “An analysis of CDC data on the number of vaccines administered per 100,000 of population over the past week (through March 17), puts Pennsylvania second in the nation behind only New Mexico.”
Overall, Pennsylvania is catching up, now ranking as 24% of the population with at least one shot versus an average of 22% for all states and territories, among other statistics, according to The New York Times COVID vaccine rollout page.
Vaccinations update
Another 1,118 Berks County residents completed COVID vaccinations, according to the Thursday health department report. The pandemic total increased to 36,982.
The completed number of residents getting the twoshot vaccine pulls from the partials column.
The partials column made up for that 1,118 and added another 874 for a pandemic total of 32,335.
The number of Pennsylvania residents with completed vaccinations was up to 1.39 million, adding about 40,000 in one day. The partials number was nearly steady at 1.23 million.
The health department said the Johnson & Johnson doses are figuring into the completed vaccinations.
The pandemic totals include all inoculations, whether through doctors offices, pharmacies, hospitals and the federal and state contracts involving long-term care facilities.
The effort at the Berks County Intermediate Unit to vaccinate school workers, expected to result in 4,000 Johnson & Johnson one-shot inoculations, was expected to end Thursday after a week run.
Daily report
Berks County added 124 COVID cases Thursday in the daily health department report, pushing the pandemic total to 37,631, and the 14-day average to 118, highest in a month.
The 14-day average was as low as 91 on March 3.
Each new case is a new person testing positive. Each day’s report is a composite of the previous day’s totals.
The average smooths the uneven reporting of test results.
Statewide, there were 3,126 additional COVID cases reported Thursday, raising the pandemic total to 973,721. The week has seen a minor upturn in cases.
There were no new COVID deaths of Berks residents in the state report, and the pandemic total stayed at 916. There were 17 deaths statewide for a new pandemic total of 24,706. The 17 is equivalent to the number of deaths seen in the summer lull.
The county coroner’s office has documented 876 deaths, including 46 nonresidents. There were no new deaths Thursday.
COVID hospitalizations statewide dipped slightly Thursday to 1,486, from 1,500 Wednesday, with a Berks component of 51.
The online dashboards of the hospitals in Berks showed Reading Hospital at 49 COVID patients and Penn State Health St. Joseph at 13, for a total of 62.
It was the first significant upturn in weeks.
Hospital looks back
Tower Health, Reading Hospital’s parent company, released these statistics covering the first year of the pandemic:
• 136,340 COVID-19 tests
• 27,959 patients tested positive
• 4,816 COVID discharges
• 382 intensive care patients
• 756 deaths
• 43,645 days of inpatient care
• 133,451 virtual visits with patients
• 255 patients in five COVID clinical trials
• eight UV disinfection and germ-killing robots installed
• 43,363 vaccinations delivered
• 34,000-plus masks received as donations
Reading Hospital typically has half of the COVID patients in the eight-facility chain.