Gov. Wolf Thanks Health Care Centers for Making COVID-19 Vaccines Accessible, Stresses Vaccines are Effective, Free, Available – pa.gov

Vaccinationsavailabletoday starting at 4:00 PM at Longs Park in Lancaster

Governor Tom Wolf today visited Union Community Cares Downtown Lancaster Health Center to thank health care centers for their efforts to provide access to vaccines and to encourage all Pennsylvanians to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by getting vaccinated.

Our hard-working health professionals across the commonwealth like Union Community Care deserve recognition and our gratitude for everything they do each day to get Pennsylvanians vaccinated. They keep us safer as individuals, and when enough people get vaccinated they also help slow the spread of this disease everywhere, Gov. Wolf said. Right now, we need to put all of our efforts into increasing vaccination rates in Pennsylvania communities so that our neighbors, our friends, and our children are safe. Getting vaccinated is easy, its free and its widely available. I urge Pennsylvanians: Please, go get your shot.

Union Community Care operates 10 community health centers in Lancaster and Lebanon counties. Among its many health careservices, the organization focuses on vaccine equity and provides COVID-19 vaccines at its centers and through partnerships and community events.

In the past few weeks, COVID-19 cases in Lancaster County have risen dramatically, raising alarm and fear, said Dr. Anne-Marie Derrico, Union Community Cares chief medical officer. But this surge is different. We now have an effective weapon to fight COVID-19, and that weapon is the vaccine.

Union Community Care will offer vaccinations to the public today at Longs Park in Lancaster. The Community-Accessible Testing and Education (CATE) Mobile Vaccination Unit will be in the park starting at 4:00 PM to provide vaccination opportunities to anyone ages 12 and older. Starting at 6:00 PM, Union Community Care will host A Day of Healing, an opportunity for the Lancaster community to reconnect, memorialize loved ones lost to COVID-19, honor healthcare heroes, and spend time healing together.

At Union Community Care, we see vaccine equity as core to our mission, said Alisa Jones, Union Community Cares president & CEO. We have provided more than 12,000 COVID-19 vaccines to patients and community members at our centers and by way of intentional vaccination partnerships and events in the Lancaster and Lebanon communities including our very own neighborhoods, local businesses and organizations, schools, churches, those experiencing homelessness, and any hard to reach areas that have gone unseen and unheard. As the pandemic evolves, we are clear in our purpose to vaccinate and protect everyone in our communities by meeting them where they are, in spaces they trust, with people they trust.

Governor Wolf encourages all Pennsylvanians ages 12 and older to get vaccinated to stop the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.

Earlier this week, the governor announced a Vaccine or Test requirement for commonwealth employees in state health care facilities and high-risk congregate care facilities. The governor also announced a vaccine incentive, in which all vaccinated commonwealth employees under the governors jurisdiction are eligible for an additional 7.5 or 8 hours paid time off.

Read more:

Gov. Wolf Thanks Health Care Centers for Making COVID-19 Vaccines Accessible, Stresses Vaccines are Effective, Free, Available - pa.gov