Health workers and first responders began receiving the Modern vaccine Saturday morning at Essex Community College, which is one of five places in the county where the vaccine is available.
“Receiving the vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel and vaccinating ourselves will greatly help stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus. We have been wishing for this day and have worked in collaboration with our mayors, local health officials, public safety officials and emergency management personnel to make sure our sites are ready and operational as soon as vaccines are received, ”said Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr., Essex County Executive. “I encourage everyone to get the vaccine.”
The first person to receive the vaccine Saturday morning was a doctor at Essex County Hospital.
“It was important to me as a provider of medical services, first of all, the risk to which I might be exposed and at the same time expose those around me, as the county executive said, we have to get a certain percentage of the population vaccinated and between 75 and 80% would be a very reasonable number as we get what is known as herd immunity, ”said Dr. Naipaul Rambaran. “The herd’s immunity will only start if the front-line ones themselves lead by example by taking the vaccine.”
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Bonnie Rogers, a school nurse, and Dr. Lionel Anicette, medical director of the Essex County Correctional Center, also received the vaccine Saturday.
“I’m here for those vulnerable people … this pandemic has exposed a lot of vulnerabilities,” Anicette said.
Vaccinations with the Moderna shot first began at Newark University Hospital on Thursday. One of the first people to receive the vaccine was the hospital president who said he feels good so far.
“We’ve already done over 1,000, we’ve almost reached the initial stockpile of Pfizer, which we have about 3,000 doses of, and we’re going like clockwork because we want to make sure we make good use of stocks and continue to get more shipments and we vaccinate more people, ”said Dr. Shereef Elnahal.
Essex County has set up five vaccination centers. The locations and municipalities served at each location are as follows:
-Essex County College, 303 University Avenue, Newark (entrance to the gym on West Market Street): Newark, East Orange and Irvington.
-County of Essex, Donald M. Payne, Sr. School of Technology, 498-544 West Market Street, Newark: Newark, East Orange and Irvington. (This site 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 behind): Livingston, Belleville, Maplewood, Millburn, Newark, Orange and South Orange.
-Exsex 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 has seen a positivity rate of up to 13% over the past week.
By the end of next month, New Jersey will have received more than 400,000 doses of the Modern and Pfizer vaccines combined. Vaccines begin next week at more than 90 nursing homes across the state.
The state began vaccinating a week later than New York and Connecticut due to the lack of a one-day federal deadline.
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