Health workers and first responders began receiving the Moderna vaccine on Saturday morning at Essex Community College, one of five locations in the county where the vaccine is being made available.
“Receiving the vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel and being vaccinated will help tremendously to stop the spread of the deadly Coronavirus. We look forward to this day and work in partnership with our mayors, local public health and safety officials and emergency management personnel to ensure our locations are ready and operational as soon as vaccines are received, “said the Essex County executive. , Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. “I encourage everyone to get the vaccine.”
The first person to receive the vaccine on Saturday morning was a doctor at Essex County Hospital.
“It was important to me as a health provider, first of all, the risk that I could be exposed to and, at the same time, exposing those around me, as the county executive said, we have to get a certain percentage of the population vaccinated and about 75 to 80% would be a very reasonable number, as we have what is known as herd immunity, “said Dr. Naipaul Rambaran. “The herd’s immunity will only begin if the frontline members themselves set an example by taking the vaccine.”
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School nurse Bonnie Rogers and Dr. Lionel Anicette, medical director at the Essex County Correctional Center, also received the vaccine on Saturday.
“I am here to help people who are vulnerable … this pandemic has exposed many vulnerabilities,” said Anicette.
Vaccination with the Modern injection started at University Hospital in Newark on Thursday. One of the first people to receive the vaccine was the president of the hospital who says he feels good so far.
“We’ve already done more than 1,000, we’re almost reaching our allocation of the initial Pfizer stock, which we got, which is about 3,000 doses, and we’re working like clockwork because we want to make sure we’re making good use of stocks and that receiving more shipments and vaccinating more people, “said Dr. Shereef Elnahal.
Essex County has created five vaccination centers. The locations and municipalities served on each site are as follows:
-Essex County College, 303 University Avenue, Newark (gym entrance on West Market Street): Newark, East Orange and Irvington.
-Essex County Donald M. Payne, School of Technology, 498-544 West Market Street, Newark: Newark, East Orange and Irvington. (This website will open in January 2021.)
– Old Kmart building, 235 Prospect Avenue, West Orange: West Orange, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Montclair, Newark, Nutley and Verona.
-Livingston Mall, former Sears building, 112 Eisenhower Parkway, Livingston (entrance is at the back): Livingston, Belleville, Maplewood, Millburn, Newark, Orange and South Orange.
Essex County West Caldwell School of Technology, 620 Passaic Avenue, West Caldwell: West Caldwell, Bloomfield, Caldwell, Fairfield, Glen Ridge, Newark, North Caldwell and Roseland.
New Jersey saw a positivity rate of up to 13% in the past week.
By the end of next month, New Jersey will have received more than 400,000 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines combined. Vaccinations begin next week in more than 90 nursing homes across the state.
The state began vaccinating about a week after New York and Connecticut due to missing a federal deadline for a day.
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