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LVHN holds mass COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Dorney Park

Lehigh Valley Health Network partnered with Dorney Park near Allentown to get shots to about 1,000 people.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic was held Wednesday at an amusement park in the Lehigh Valley.

Dorney Park near Allentown is closed for the season, but the parking lot in South Whitehall Township was filled. People came to get their first dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine.

Robert Roberts from Stroudsburg was one of them.

"I am glad it's over with. We have other things we need to get to down here, so we are doing it all in the same day."

Lehigh Valley Health Network put on the mass vaccine clinic. All appointments for the drive-thru clinic were filled; 1,000 people were vaccinated.

"Now that we've had vaccine available to us for the public for the last four or five weeks, that I think there's good experience. I think people feel comfortable. The side effects that have been described or as described maybe fever or soreness in the arm, no major complications," said Dr. Alex Benjamin, LVHN chief of infection control.

RELATED: How to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment in Pennsylvania

It might sound strange to have a mass vaccination at an amusement park, but Dorney has held similar clinics before.

"For the last 24 years, we have been doing our flu drive-thru clinics here in the parking lot, so you'll see the same sort of set up, but this one had to be altered just a little bit because of COVID-19," said Dorney Park's Tana Korpics.

That alteration involves a special spot in the parking lot where people wait 15 minutes after getting vaccinated to make sure there are no negative reactions.

"It was terrific. Everyone is so nice," said Dorothea Weidner. "I looked at him and said, 'Done already?' and he said yes."

Everyone who was vaccinated at this drive-thru clinic will be brought back in four weeks for their second round of the COVID-19 vaccine.

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