What is big and blue and can save hundreds of lives? The big blue vans that the New Jersey Department of Health is launching to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to residents who have been the hardest to reach.
With infection rates rising again across the state – especially in crowded areas like Hudson County, where many people have been unable to schedule appointments online and don’t have cars to reach vaccination centers – Governor Phil Murphy used federal funds to buy three customized vehicles to bring vaccines to people.
“They just arrived – three vans that will be equipped with a full team to dig deep into the communities and vaccinate individuals in about three weeks,” New Jersey health commissioner Judith Persichilli said on Friday. “Therefore, we are working with major health systems in New Jersey to license these vans as intensive care centers. … So look for big blue vans entering communities. Let’s put one up quickly for testing, so people get used to seeing the vans. “
They are hard to miss. In addition to color and size, they have the words “Rapid mobile response team” in large letters on the side.
Inside, the vans have dividers where vaccines can be administered and are customized with special refrigerators so that vaccines can be transported safely, said Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.
“Three mobile units will be placed in the northern, central and southern parts of the state and will go to underprivileged communities, including congregated environments, such as skyscraper senior centers,” said Leusner in an email to NBC News.
Vaccination vans similar to these are also being used in Connecticut, California, New Mexico, South Carolina and Virginia to inject into the arms of hard-to-reach populations. And in Tennessee, the First Tennessee Development District Foundation is using more than $ 500,000 in donations to purchase and customize three vaccination vans similar to those in New Jersey.
Although Tennessee vaccination vans are likely to serve a predominantly rural population, a large proportion of the people New Jersey’s health officials target live in the populous cities across the Hudson River from New York City.
And they are in a race against time.
Public health experts have warned that New Jersey may see a third wave of infections, even as its vaccination programs are increasing.
“If there are sustained trends of increasing cases in 7 and 14 days and a proportional increase in the rate of positivity, you are practically in another wave,” Shereef Elnahal, CEO of University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, told WNYC radio.
New Jersey currently leads the country in case rates, with nearly 46 per 100,000 residents, according to the vaccine and risk tracker Covid Act Now.
Nearly 16 percent of New Jersey residents have been fully vaccinated, according to Becker’s Hospital Review.
But the proportion of black and Hispanic residents who have been vaccinated is much lower in New Jersey and other states, according to research compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The problem is especially acute in Hudson County, “which is the most diverse county in the state,” said Hudson County spokesman Jim Kennelly.
Hudson County currently has the lowest vaccination rate of any county in the state, with 16 doses administered per 100 people. And that did not go unnoticed by New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, who asked Murphy to take further steps to vaccinate New Jersey residents.
“With 672,000 residents, Hudson is the fourth most populous county in the state, although it is tenth in the total number of vaccine doses administered,” Menendez wrote in a letter to Murphy on Monday. “Other counties have a rate of up to 33 doses administered per 100 residents. I am deeply concerned that Hudson County residents will not have equitable access to covid-19 vaccines. “
