LVHN to close vaccine clinics
CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE
Lehigh Valley Health Network will officially close its five COVID-19 vaccine clinics - in Whitehall, Easton, Hazleton, Pottsville and East Stroudsburg - Feb. 3, as well as the network’s mobile vaccination unit.
The Whitehall clinic is located at 2633 MacArthur Road.
Going forward, initial vaccine doses for people 6 months and older and booster shots for people 5 years and older will be available at all Lehigh Valley Physician Group primary care practices, such as internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics. Scheduling for COVID-19 vaccines at these practices will open in the next two weeks.
A majority of the vaccines available will be Pfizer-BioNTech, and individuals will not be able to request the specific brand they want to receive. The Novavax vaccine will no longer be available at any LVHN facilities.
The community clinics were established by LVHN in spring 2021 to provide easy access to COVID-19 vaccinations. Since the vaccines first became available in December 2020, LVHN has administered more than 620,000 shots - including primary doses and boosters - to adults, teens and children throughout the region.
Initial vaccine doses and boosters will be given during specific vaccination appointments or as part of yearly physical or sick/problem visits, as long as the patient is not experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. While most LVPG primary care practices will be offering vaccine appointments starting Feb. 6, some practices may not have doses of the vaccines until later in the month.
Appointments can be scheduled with individuals’ LVPG practice by calling their LVPG primary care physicians’ office or by logging in to their MyLVHN account, which is the network’s patient portal.
Similar to other vaccinations at LVPG practices, an administration fee will be billed to patients’ insurance policies after they have received their shot.
Individuals who are not current LVHN patients but want to receive their initial vaccine series or booster through LVHN can call 888-402-5846 to make a new patient appointment. Alternatively, the initial vaccine series and boosters are available at retail pharmacies throughout the region.
LVHN includes 13 hospital campuses - four in Allentown, two in Bethlehem, one in Easton, one in East Stroudsburg, one in Hazleton, two in Pottsville, one in Dickson City and one in Lehighton; 28 health centers; numerous primary and specialty care physician practices; 20 ExpressCARE locations including the area’s only Children’s ExpressCARE; pharmacy, imaging, home health, rehabilitation and lab services; and preferred provider services through Valley Preferred.
Specialty care includes trauma care for adults and children; burn care at the regional burn center; kidney and pancreas transplants; perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer, orthopedics, neurology, complex neurosurgery capabilities including national certification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center and robotic surgery in 10 specialties.
Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute, Lehigh Valley Heart and Vascular Institute, Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence, Lehigh Valley Orthopedic Institute and Lehigh Valley Fleming Neuroscience Institute physicians provide the most advanced treatments. Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute is a member of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance, an initiative that helps community providers improve the quality of cancer care and offers access to MSK clinical trials.
Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital, the third largest children’s hospital in Pennsylvania, provides care in more than 30 specialties and general pediatrics. Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest is ranked as the region’s No. 1 hospital for nine straight years and has been recognized among Pennsylvania’s top 10 hospitals for nine consecutive years by U.S. News and World Report. LVH-Cedar Crest, LVH-17th Street and LVH-Muhlenberg are the region’s only Magnet hospitals for nursing excellence.
Additional information is available by visiting LVHN.org or on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.