While many retailers distribute COVID vaccines on a first-come, first-served basis, at least one local pharmacy is going out of its way to prioritize seniors and at-risk populations.
As soon as The Medicine Shoppe of Boyertown got the vaccine in stock, it began setting up clinics at assisted living facilities and, most recently, for Boyertown School District employees who are either 65 and older or have certain health conditions. When we got our first shipment, we turned around and gave it to three senior communities within a day, said Ed Hudon, who owns The Medicine Shoppe with his wife, Terry.
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On Wednesday, 243 staff members in the Boyertown School District got their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine thanks to a local pharmacy.
Acting Superintendent Marybeth Torchia said the district was recently approached by Ed Hudon, owner of the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy in Boyertown, who was looking for an efficient way to distribute doses of vaccine he was receiving.
The pharmacy and school district collaborated, Torchia said, and within days a plan was hatched to use the library at the high school as a vaccine clinic.
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School nurses and other staff members were utilized to help operate the clinic â doing things like helping people keep 6 feet away from others and monitoring patients for the required 15 minutes after getting the shot â with Hudon doing the actual injecting.
New federal COVID-19 relief funding will bring nearly $80 million to Berks County school districts.
During a media briefing Friday, Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Education Noe Ortega announced the state had received $2.2 billion for education as part of the federal government s second coronavirus relief package. No doubt, the level of need by our schools is great, Ortega said.
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Because of that need, he said, Gov. Tom Wolf and department leadership have decided to distribute the entire $2.2 billion directly to school entities. All schools have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and I commend school communities for rising to the challenge to combat the toll it has taken, Wolf said in a statement released Friday afternoon. This extra funding is critical to help schools meet the unique needs of educating students at this time while keeping school buildings safe when students return to the classroom.
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