The roughly dozen or so patients lined up outside the Lancaster County Community Vaccination Center on Wednesday morning were greeted with a message spoken over the intercom.
âLadies and gentlemen, itâs 8 oâclock,â a woman said. âLetâs start vaccinating.â
The morningâs patients were the first of about 500 people who were inoculated from COVID-19 as part of a âsoft openingâ at the new 100,000-square-foot mass vaccination site at the former Bon-Ton department store at Park City Center.
Leola resident Mark Milliken was among those who was randomly selected among a pool of applicants who qualified for Phase 1A vaccine eligibility to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the center on its first day of operation.
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THE ISSUE
On April 13, 2020, about a month after what we generally consider to be the moment when COVID-19 began to dominate our lives, we wrote here that âgood news is one of the best remedies we have at our disposal.â Of course, we had no idea then of how many months and how much heartbreak was ahead in this health crisis. But the sentiment we expressed nearly a year ago remains true. Good news represents welcome points of light in a dark time, and it deserves a brighter spotlight.
To that end, here is some recent good news that brought us cheer during the often cold and gloomy winter days.
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âShots could be going into arms at the COVID-19 mass vaccination site in Lancaster County as soon as Wednesday, when the soft launch is slated to open,â LNP | LancasterOnlineâs Nicole C. Brambila reported Friday. The former Bon-Ton store at Park City Center has been transformed by the concert and event staging company Rock Lititz into a site that, when operating at full speed, will deliver 6,000 vaccinations a day, its organizers hope. Itâs the product of a partnership between the Lancaster County commissioners, Rock Lititz, TriStarr Staffing and four health care systems led by Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health.
BLAINE SHAHAN | Staff Photographer
Tables have been set up to check in at the mass vaccination site inside the former Bon Ton store at Park City Monday, March 1, 2021. These tables are south side of the former department store near the entrance that faces Harrisburg Pike.
BLAINE SHAHAN | Staff Photographer
The mass vaccination clinic will undertake a âpilot weekâ
The vaccination center will have a âpilot weekâ next week, according to Dr. Michael Ripchinski, chief clinical officer of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health.
Vaccinations will start slowly, he said.
Anticipating an increase in vaccine dose allotment from the federal government throughout March, Ripchinski said the volume of doses the state allocates to the center will control how many appointment slots are open for scheduling.