No appointment needed: UPMC drive-up clinic now giving out Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine instead of J&J

FRAZER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — People who originally signed up to get the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-up clinic Wednesday and Thursday at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills are now getting the Pfizer vaccine instead, and appointments for first doses are no longer needed.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center pivoted to the Pfizer vaccine after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration pumped the brakes on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Tuesday.

>>STORY: Coronavirus: US health agencies call for pause in use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine

The Pennsylvania Department of Health told all COVID-19 vaccine providers in the state to stop administering the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine until at least April 20 “out of an abundance of caution.”

The clinic was supposed to be the first and largest Johnson & Johnson vaccine drive-up clinic in Allegheny County. People will now get the Pfizer vaccine.

UPMC expects to administer about 8,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

The clinic is scheduled to run until 5 p.m. Wednesday, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday.

The clinic is being hosted by UPMC and the Pittsburgh Penguins, in partnership with the Allegheny County Health Department.

After people arrive in their cars, they’ll receive the vaccine and then park for 15 minutes while UPMC nurses and lot attendants check on them.

Pennsylvania pauses use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Cox Media Group