Montco's Suburban Hospital Receives Vaccine Shipment Wednesday

EAST NORRITON, PA — Suburban Community Hospital is among the first hospitals in all of Pennsylvania to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, as its shipment arrived in East Norriton on Wednesday morning. It is one 16 facilities in the state that have now received the first doses, as the county and the country embark on the largest inoculation campaign in history.

Montgomery County officials said that seven more hospitals around the county will receive their shipments of vaccine by the end of the day Thursday. A ninth is expected to receive it by next Monday. Commissioner Val Arkoosh said the snowstorm is not expected to interfere with this schedule. More doses will continue to be disbursed daily, but an exact timetable is unclear.

“Each day, hospitals will be shipped vaccine directly from Pfizer and will begin administering it to health care workers at the hospital,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Wednesday.

However, Arkoosh noted that no hospital is receiving enough vaccine to provide doses for all of their workers in this first round this week.

"They are having to make priority lists even within each hospital," she said.

Hospitals were chosen for distribution based on their ability to store the Pfizer vaccine in the ultra-cold refrigeration units it requires.

Other Montgomery County hospitals receiving these early doses include Abington Hospital, Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood, Norristown State Hospital, Pottstown Hospital, and more.

>>Montco Hospitals To Get COVID Vaccine This Week: Here's What To Know

CVS and Walgreens locations in Montgomery County are expected to receive vaccines in the coming days as well, Arkoosh said.

“These first doses of vaccine are being given specifically to health care workers through hospitals,” Levine added. “Hospitals are making arrangements to implement these vaccinations, not only to their own frontline staff but to other high-priority recipients. The number of people we can immunize truly depends on how quickly the manufacturers can make the vaccine.”

Vaccines are being distributed first to healthcare workers, then to other frontline workers in the second phase, then to those over 65 and those at heightened risk of the virus in the third phase. After the third phase, it will become available to the general public.