4,500 In Bucks Co. Have Gotten COVID Vaccine Shot

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — More than 4,500 Bucks County healthcare workers and others have gotten the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to state health officials.

Pennsylvania on Wednesday unveiled a new tracking dashboard to show the progress of vaccine distribution in the state. As of Wednesday afternoon, 4,537 people in Bucks County had gotten the first of two doses the vaccine requires, the dashboard said.

In all, 96,045 Pennsylvanian's had been partially vaccinated as of Wednesday.

The vaccine doses currently being administered are exclusively for healthcare workers, EMS first responders and vulnerable populations in long term care facilities. There remains a long road ahead for individuals not in this first priority phase, as millions of Pennsylvanians wait their turn.

"We can all have hope that next year will have a brighter ending than this year," Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement Wednesday. "And that hope should energize us to keep our guard up and continue the fight against COVID-19 in the months ahead. By working together, we can keep one another safe while we wait for the vaccine."

Bucks County had received the third-most vaccines of any Pennsylvania county as of Wednesday, behind only Allegheny (9,948) and Montgomery (4,537).

A total of 142 hospitals and pharmacies had received the vaccine as of Wednesday, with another 56 scheduled to receive shipments this week.

Statewide, 37,131 vaccines have gone to women and 18,143 to men. The 30-34 age group was the five-year bracket with the largest number of vaccinations, at 7,642, the dashboard shows.