Penn State Health and the Lancaster County Community Vaccination Center are among the central Pennsylvania COVID-19 vaccine providers stressing availability of walk-in appointments. Penn State Health is taking walk-ins at its vaccination site at 30 E. Granada Avenue, #200 in Dauphin County. The site is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and is able to take several hundred .
THE ISSUE
The Lancaster County Community Vaccination Center may close earlier than its previously announced closing date, LNP | LancasterOnlineâs Carter Walker reported last week, though there doesnât seem to be any clarity on when exactly it will close. âWhen plans for the community vaccination center at Park City Center were being finalized in February, Dr. Michael Ripchinski, the chief clinical officer for Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, said the plan was to run the facility through the end of June,â Walker reported. LG Health spokesman John Lines said the Lancaster County Community Vaccination Center âis expected to continue operations at least through the beginning of June.â No decision, Lines said, had been âmade on a closure date prior to June 30.â
In less than 15 minutes, Pennsylvania National Guard Spc. Ryan Whispell jabs five people in the arm with a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
He zips through the standard medical questions, occasionally stumbling when he asks which arm the patient prefers only to notice a rolled up sleeve.
He smiles with his eyes.
Whispell is one of about 50 Guard members working at the Lancaster County Community Vaccination Center. But while other reservists hail from across the region, Whispell lives here in Lancaster County.
âPart of the whole reason I did the Guard is I like the whole idea of being local,â said Whispell, 20.
The Lancaster County Community Vaccination Center will close about a month earlier than expected, Lancaster County Commissioner Craig Lehman confirmed Tuesday.
When plans for the community vaccination center at the Bon Ton were being finalized in February, Dr. Michael Ripchinski, the chief clinical officer for Lancaster General Health, said the plan was to run the facility through the end of June.
In response to a question from a reporter Tuesday, Lehman said on Twitter My information from this weekend and confirmed again today is that the CVC will operate until the beginning of June.
Brett Marcy, spokesperson for the community vaccination center, said the center will stay open at least through early June, though no official decision has been made to close before the end of that month. He said that some staff hours have been reduced because of lower patient volume, but there has been no staff reduction.