Chester County Medicine Winter 2021 - 15

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COVID-19 vaccinations in their establishments as supply becomes
more broadly available to the population. They will follow the
same model they use for Flu vaccine. The idea is that anywhere
that you would normally get a Flu vaccine; you will be able to get a
COVID-19 vaccine eventually.
We have taken lessons learned and pivoted to COVID-19
vaccine planning. These months of planning and anticipation
have served us well. On December 23, the Health Department
received its first vaccine delivery: 2,000 doses of the Moderna
vaccine. Due to a limited supply of vaccine, prioritization is
utilized for dispensing among priority groups. Currently, the
Health Department is in phase 1A of vaccination. 1A allocates
vaccine for healthcare professionals and long-term care facility
residents. 1B allocates vaccine to frontline essential workers and
people aged 75 and older. The Department is offering vaccine
to health professionals, school nurses, and EMS employees. We
will continue to follow the CDC prioritization guidelines as
COVID-19 vaccination continues.
The Moderna vaccine is one of two vaccines approved for
EUA Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA this month, the
other developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. Both companies' vaccines
have shown to be 90-95% efficacious after the second dose. For

the Health Department, receiving the Moderna vaccine was
beneficial due to the difficult Cold Chain requirements of the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Moderna's vaccine is stored at normal
refrigerator temperatures for a few weeks. The Pfizer-BioNTech
product must be kept at -70 degrees Celsius. As of the end of
December 2020, approximately 7,000 vaccinations have been
given in Chester and Delaware counties combined.
The Health Department looks forward to partnering with
many other providers to vaccinate our community members
quickly and safely. Much of the success of any mass vaccination
clinics is reliant on medical and non-medical volunteers. There
has been an immense response from volunteers throughout the
both counties over the past year. We would like to thank them
for working long hours to support the COVID-19 Call Center,
testing program, flu clinics, and now COVID-19 vaccination.
It is crucial volunteers continue to enroll with the Health
Department's Medical Reserve Corps program to ensure that
workforce is trained and ready as these initiatives continue over the
next several months.
For more information regarding the Chester County Medical
Reserve Corps, please visit: https://www.chesco.org/832/ChesterCounty-Medical-Reserve-Corps.

WINTER 2021 | CHESTER COUNT Y Medicine 15

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Chester County Medicine Winter 2021

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