Mar 20, 2021 2 min read

Pennsylvania is expected to wrap up efforts to vaccinate schoolteachers and others working in education two weeks early with thousands of new Johnson & Johnson doses expected in the state before the end of the month.

Gov. Tom Wolf made the announcement about the program’s successes after he toured a J&J clinic Friday at an Intermediate Unit in Bucks County.

“That’s a big deal,” Wolf said.

Pennsylvania dedicated its first shipment of 94,600 J&J doses to school employees, including janitors and cafeteria workers, and distributed them through 28 IUs across the state, including the one in California Borough.

As of Friday, the clinics have administered 83,859 of the doses, with the remaining expected to be in arms this weekend, Wolf said.

“Most importantly, vaccinating teachers will help students to get back in the classroom faster, ease the burden on parents and benefit entire communities,” he said.

The state has secured 13,000 additional J&J doses and asked for the same amount next week, and expects another large allotment March 28, Wolf said.

Those doses will allow the state to offer a J&J dose to all school employees by March 31.

The state Health Department reported 3,455 new virus cases Friday, taking the cumulative total to 980,302 since March 2020.

The virus has killed 24,741 Pennsylvanians after 35 new deaths were reported, none of which occurred in Washington, Greene of Fayette counties.

Washington County reported 47 new cases, bringing its total to 14,374. Greene’s case-count grew by 10 to 2,765. Fayette added 27 new cases to its total of 10,884.