St. Mary Now Giving COVID Vaccine To Eligible Patients

LANGHORNE, PA — After nearly two months of COVID-19 vaccines going almost exclusively to healthcare workers and nursing home residents, St. Mary Medical Center has begun inoculating other eligible patients.

Dr. Larry Brilliant, president of the hospital in Langhorne, confirmed it has begun making appointments and vaccinating people eligible under Phase 1A of Pennsylvania's coronavirus vaccine program.

"St. Mary is currently vaccinating eligible individuals – including those who are not current patients of St. Mary Medical Center – at two vaccination clinics to increase our ability to vaccinate a larger portion of our community," Brilliant said Wednesday. "The clinics are a coordinated community effort between St. Mary Medical Center, St. Mary Physician Group and volunteers."

Brilliant noted that the hospital's vaccine supply is dependent on the state Department of Health and said St. Mary is "doing all we can to provide our community vaccinations as quickly as possible."

Bucks County COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout: Updates

The two clinics are a coordinated effort between St. Mary Medical Center, St. Mary Physician Group and volunteers. They will follow the state's vaccine rollout plan and "St. Mary is not prioritizing any group of people over another to receive the COVID-19 vaccine," Brilliant said.

Residents may register to receive a vaccination at the St. Mary's website. People who are eligible will receive a phone call to schedule their shots.

Since late December, doses of the approved coronavirus vaccines have been arriving in Bucks County. But for most of that time, they were being given exclusively to healthcare workers and residents and employees of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

Even after Pennsylvania health officials dramatically expanded who was eligible for a vaccination under the initial phase of its rollout plan last month, a limited vaccine supply meant almost all of the vaccine received in Bucks continued going to those two groups.

But now, and ever-so-slowly, that's changing.

This week, Doylestown Hospital announced that "Doylestown Health physician practices (primary care and specialists) are in the process of contacting their patients who are the sickest and at the highest risk of contracting COVID-19 to meet the most immediate demand for vaccine."

Lower Bucks Hospital, in Bristol, also plans to open a COVID vaccine clinic. But, as of Wednesday, it had not opened. A spokeswoman said the hospital is encouraging patients to register with Bucks County and expects the clinic to open by the end of the month.

Click Here To Register For A COVID-19 Vaccination In Bucks County

Bucks County officials have said they plan to open five coronavirus vaccine clinics throughout the county once an ample supply of the vaccine is available. Three of those clinics will be on the campuses of Bucks County Commmunity College in Bristol, Newtown and Perkasie, they have said.

As of Wednesday, 34,740 people in Bucks County had received a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 12,793 had received both doses of the two-shot vaccination, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Bucks County commissioners have scheduled news conference believed to be related to the vaccine rollout for Thursday.

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