Essex County Readies 5 Vaccine Distribution Sites Ahead of Moderna Approval – TAPinto.net

NEWARK, NJ — Hours after the first health care workers in New Jersey received doses of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at University Hospital, Essex County revealed plans to open five centers that will distribute the impending Moderna vaccine. 

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo said Tuesday that residents from each municipality will be assigned to designated sites with the exception of Newark residents, who may be vaccinated at any of the five locations. 

Newark, the most infectious municipality in the state and in Essex County, will offer two sites at Essex County College and the Donald M. Payne Building. The remaining three sites will be housed at the Livingston Mall in the former Sears building, the former KMart building in West Orange and the West Caldwell School of Technology. 

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Each vaccination site is set up in a similar fashion. Residents entering the site will first be pre-screened to verify they have an appointment and then proceed to a registration table to fill out paperwork and receive a card for their second appointment. After being inoculated, residents will wait 15 minutes while they are monitored for any side effects.

The sites have the capacity to vaccinate approximately 1,000 to 2,000 residents a day, DiVincenzo said. While the first shipments of the Moderna vaccine — which is expected to receive emergency authorization from the United States Food and Drug Administration this week —will only be available for health care workers, the county expects the rest of the public to be able to receive the two-stage inoculation in the beginning of the second quarter of 2021. 

Next in line for the Moderna vaccine are residents 65 and older, people with underlying health issues, remaining health care workers, first responders, food and agriculture workers, transportation, education and child care, energy, water and sanitation, law enforcement and government and others at high risk. 

Home to some of the state’s most infectious municipalities, including Newark, the largest city and epicenter, Essex County added 296 new cases overnight, bringing its total since March to 41,728. Four additional people were added to its death toll. 

“We have a slogan, put Essex County first. We don’t want to put it first when it comes to this pandemic, and right now we’re first in the number of deaths and the positive infection rate. Now, thank God, we’ve got this vaccine and we all have to work together,” DiVincenzo said. 

The Moderna vaccine’s doses are given 28 days apart, Essex County Health Officer Maya Lordo said. Her office has not received an estimate of how many doses it will receive in the first shipment. 

Vaccines are available by appointment only, and residents eligible for vaccination must register for theirs at essexcovid.org. Appointments are not available until the county receives its first shipment of vaccines. 

 Lordo said insurance providers will be billed $16.94 for the first dose and $28.39 for the second dose, but residents do not need insurance to receive their vaccines. The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provide Relief Fund will cover uninsured patients and there will be no out-of-pocket expenses charged to residents.

“No one ever knew that this day would ever come as soon as it’s coming now, but there is one thing that counts right now,” DiVincenzo said. “The problem is that to get rid of this virus, we need as many people as possible, especially in this county, to be able to get vaccinated. If you don’t have the numbers, this problem could continue, and I want to make sure this virus ends once and for all.”

The five locations and the municipalities assigned to each of them 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, Sr. School of Technology, 498-544 West Market Street, Newark: Newark, East Orange and Irvington. (This site will be set up at a later date.)
  • Former 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 in 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.