Bucks County officials hope to double the number of COVID-19 vaccine shots given this week at the county’s three COVID immunization clinics.
The Bucks County Health Department received almost 4,700 doses of Pfizer vaccine from the state last week after getting nothing the week before. When county clinics reopen today at the county’s three community college campuses, officials expect to average 400 doses per site per day, or 6,000 for the week.
A total of 11,028 doses of vaccine were administered countywide last week, including 2,975 at the county-financed clinics. The community college clinics have administered 8,273 doses since opening on Feb. 16.
Through Saturday, 95,382 doses of vaccine had been administered in Bucks County, with 30,884 people receiving first-round shots and 32,249 others fully vaccinated. The county continues to schedule people in the 1A classification of the vaccine rollout, and is scheduling those who pre-registered on or before Jan. 15. More information, including a link to pre-register for vaccination, is on the county’s Coronavirus Vaccine Information page.
Long-simmering complaints of supply inequities in the Philadelphia suburban counties boiled over in recent days, when a Philadelphia Inquirer analysis showed that Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties were getting far less vaccine per capita than many smaller, rural counties in Pennsylvania. Bucks County was ranked 34th among the 66 counties other than Philadelphia; Delaware County 53rd, and Chester and Montgomery 29th and 20th, respectively.
U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlan, of Delaware County, announced that she and other area Congressional representatives had spoken to state officials, including Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of State Alison Beam, about the disparities. Scanlon said, “They conceded that in the past we have not received our proportionate share and that … we’re going to get extra to bring us up to the state average.”
New infections in Bucks County were relatively flat last week, increasing by less than 4 percent after a 32 percent decrease the week before. State figures show 1,050 new positive cases in the county from Feb. 21-27. The seven-day average of new cases is 152, up slightly from the previous week, while the test positivity rate continued to decline, falling from 8.2 percent to 7 percent.
Through Saturday, Bucks County had recorded 45,046 COVID cases during the pandemic, along with 1,132 deaths. Twenty-one COVID deaths were reported last week in Bucks, for a total of 75 in February.
Hospitalizations have dropped to 75 COVID patients in Bucks County hospitals, down from 90 the previous week. Nineteen are in intensive care, 11 of them on ventilators. Forty-six percent of the county’s adult ICU beds are available, along with 27 percent of adult medical surgical beds.
Visit covid19-bucksgis.hub.arcgis.com/ for more information.
