Pharmacy owner Harshil Patel, second from left, organized a team to administer the COVID-19 vaccine at a recent spring fling festival at Community Park in Hazle Township, although he only had 10 takers. Assisting him, from left, were pharmacy technicians Pratiksha Patel, Ingrid Mejia, Yesenia Torres and volunteer Denny Caraballo.
                                 Submitted photo

Pharmacy owner Harshil Patel, second from left, organized a team to administer the COVID-19 vaccine at a recent spring fling festival at Community Park in Hazle Township, although he only had 10 takers. Assisting him, from left, were pharmacy technicians Pratiksha Patel, Ingrid Mejia, Yesenia Torres and volunteer Denny Caraballo.

Submitted photo

Luzerne County passed a coronavirus milestone Wednesday, with more than 100,000 residents fully vaccinated.

The state health department’s daily updates show 101,229 county residents are now fully covered.

That equates to at least 38% of residents currently eligible for the vaccine, based on available population estimates from the state.

Surpassing 100,000 doses is “definitely an achievement,” said county Emergency Management Agency Director Lucy Morgan.

“Our providers throughout the county have just been wonderful,” Morgan said.

Vaccination efforts started with hospitals, she said. Even though these medical facilities were “exhausted” from responding to COVID-19, they took on the mission to secure vaccines, schedule appointments and set up safe systems to distribute them, she said.

Many pharmacies then joined the effort to administer vaccines to the masses, with everyone forced to grapple with initial supply shortages that did not keep up with the demand, she said.

“It was very difficult for them to have to tell people they did not yet qualify,” Morgan said.

With more vaccines available and everyone 16 and over now eligible, the focus has switched to reaching those still out there, she said.

“Now, unfortunately, it seems we have appointments available, and there’s hesitancy,” Morgan said. “We seemed to turn a corner.”

Reaching out

Working with the state health department and other entities, the county held a two-day mass vaccination clinic at the Mohegan Sun Pocono Casino in Plains Township this week.

Teams of vaccinators also visited around 20 senior high-rise facilities and complexes, and an announcement was made that homebound elderly and disabled county residents can now receive a vaccine at their residence.

Morgan said these plans were developed some time ago but had to wait until enough vaccines were available.

“We will continue to look for ways to reach more people. If there’s a provider out there who wants to try new things, we’ll do anything to try to assist,” Morgan said.

Pharmacist Harshil Patel, who owns several pharmacies in the Hazleton area, recently attempted to bring vaccines to the people but had limited success.

Learning a spring fling festival last Saturday was expected to draw 600 to Community Park in Hazle Township, he assembled a team and enough Moderna to provide first doses to an anticipated 50 to 100 attendees.

His crew included someone bilingual, and the group offered to help fill out the paperwork to make the process as effortless as possible, Patel said.

“Quite a few at the event were already vaccinated, but most others were not interested,” Patel said. “There’s just not enough education.”

Patel managed to attract eight event-goers interested in receiving the vaccine and then had to step up his pitch in the crowd to draw two more. The vaccine is packaged in 10-dose allotments that expire after 12 hours once they are opened, he said.

“I don’t want to waste any vaccine. Fortunately we were able to get enough people for all 10,” he said.

He scheduled follow-up appointments with those 10 to receive their second required doses.

Patel said his team also has held clinics in senior living facilities.

He is motivated to vaccinate more by the memory of fear and suffering when the Hazleton area was a coronavirus hotspot last year.

“I want it to be safe for the community and safe for businesses,” Patel said.

Comparing stats

In addition to those fully vaccinated, the county has 36,200 partially vaccinated residents who received first doses, state statistics show.

The at least 38% of eligible county residents fully vaccinated is based on the best available age population statistics used by the state health department indicating there are 266,073 residents 15 and older. Only residents 16 and older are able to be vaccinated at this time.

To get a feel for how Luzerne County’s vaccinations compare, here are the statistics for the 11 other third-class counties, which have wide-ranging overall populations between 210,000 and 499,999:

• Cumberland: 69,952 full/49,448 partial

• Dauphin: 73,625 full/41,718 partial

• Lackawanna: 81,383 full/27,183 partial

• Erie: 90,779 full/24,411 partial

• Northampton: 96,885 full/66,231 partial

• Berks: 103,974 full/62,473 partial

• Westmoreland: 110,891 full/44,159 partial

• Lehigh: 121,042 full/70,777 partial

• York: 126,208 full/47,670 partial

• Chester: 155,293 full/138,715 partial

• Lancaster: 169,705 full/59,516 partial

The vaccination data and an interactive map showing the number of fully vaccinated per 100,000 residents is posted at www.health.pa.gov. This map counts overall population, though only those 16 and older are able to be vaccinated at this time.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.