A SHOT IN THE ARM
1,600, including many teens, come out for vaccination clinic
TOWAMENCIN » Dr. Mayank Amin, Montgomery County’s self-proclaimed “Superman” pharmacist, broke out his signature costume Sunday as about 1,600 people got a COVID-19 booster shot during a clinic at North Penn High School.
Skippack Pharmacy, of Schwenksville, hosted the booster clinic from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday at the high school, 1340 S. Valley Forge Road.
Amin said it took about a week to organize the clinic after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the green light for children ages 12-to-15 years old to receive a COVID-19 booster shot. The CDC now “recommends that adolescents age 12-to-17 years old should receive a booster shot (five) months after their initial Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination series.”
“We only had initially planned for the clinic to have 1,000 appointments
open, but when we saw the outcry of people that wanted to get their children vaccinated with the booster before some of them returned fully back to school, that’s when we opened
up more appointments, and we ended up having 1,600 people show up,” Amin said. “Even though it was freezing rain outside, it was icy, parents brought their kids.”
Amin said that a number of students from across Montgomery County opted to get a booster shot, including those from Methacton, North Penn, Perkiomen Valley, and Souderton Area school districts.
While Sunday’s booster clinic focused on people in that key age group receiving a booster shot, some parents and family members bringing their children also got boosted, according to Amin, who noted that information about the event was primarily “spread through word of mouth” and on “social media.”
“It’s good that everyone was able to come out and get vaccinated safely,” he said.
Amin added that he was pleased to report that it was well attended and ran smoothly.
“I can say 100 percent of the people who walked through the doors yesterday were happy leaving, and for us and our volunteers, that meant the world,” Amin said.