Bucks Co. COVID Vaccinations Now Open To All

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Bucks County has shut down its waiting list for COVID-19 vaccinations, meaning everyone 16 and older may now sign up for an appointment to get the shots.

Bucks County officials announced that everyone on the county's vaccination waitlist had been notified about making an appointment. With that, the waiting list was closed and anyone of eligible age can now go online to schedule one.

Schedule A Vaccine Appointment With Bucks County Here

Last week, Bucks County opened its fifth, and largest, vaccination site in Warwick. It joins clinics at Bucks County Community College campuses in Bristol, Newtown and Quakertown and one at Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem.

Those, combined with vaccine given at local hospitals, doctor's offices and pharmacies, have helped get a vaccine supply that has increased significantly in the past couple of weeks to the public.

At week's end, 105,761 people had been fully vaccinated in Bucks County and another 87,987 had received the first dose of one of the two-dose vaccines.

Opening up appointments put Bucks County ahead of its original vaccination schedule. Previously, people eligible under Phase 1C of Pennsylvania's vaccination plan were to have been made eligible on Monday and all other adults were to have been able to start making appointments on April 19.

On Monday, all of Pennsylvania entered Phase 1C which, in itself, is ahead of schedule. That opens up appointments to groups including food service workers, government employees, transit workers and members of the media.

As of Friday, Pennsylvania had administered 3,847,164 partial doses and 2,208,660 full doses, for a total of 6,055,844.

Over the weekend, Bucks County officials also announced they have started a program to give free rides to vaccine appointments for people who need them.

Under a contract with Bucks County Transport, residents may request a free ride to one of the county's vaccine clinics or anywhere else in Bucks County they have scheduled an appointment.

Anyone interested is asked to call Bucks County Transport two days before their scheduled appointment at 1-888-795-0740.

The county's vaccination efforts come as Bucks, like the rest of Pennsylvania and much of the nation, is battling the latest surge in new coronavirus cases.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 307 new cases in Bucks County on Friday, along with one death. That brought the county's seven-day average of new cases to 273. If that number holds through the weekend, it would be a slight decrease from the previous week —when 282 new cases per day marked the fourth week in a row that case numbers had risen and the highest in more than two months.

County hospitals had 112 COVID patients at the end of the day Friday, including 23 in intensive care and 13 on ventilators.

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