Essex County Rolls Out Plan To Vaccinate Residents At 5 Sites – Patch.com

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County officials on Monday announced a comprehensive plan to get as many residents as possible vaccinated against the coronavirus.

In a news conference, County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr., said five vaccination centers scattered throughout the county will serve its estimated 798,975 residents. Not including those in Newark, residents will be assigned to a site depending on the municipality they call home.

Residents of Newark can make an appointment to be vaccinated at any of the five testing sites.

The locations of the pending vaccination sites, along with which residents can attend them, are:

  • Essex County College — 303 University Avenue, Newark (Gym entrance on West Market Street)
    • For residents of Newark, East Orange and Irvington
  • Essex County Donald M. Payne, Sr. School of Technology — 498-544 West Market Street, Newark
    • For residents of Newark, East Orange and Irvington (This site will be set up at a later date)
  • Former Kmart building, —235 Prospect Avenue, West Orange
    • For residents of 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)
    • For residents of Livingston, Belleville, Maplewood, Millburn, Newark, Orange and South Orange.
  • Essex County West Caldwell School of Technology — 620 Passaic Avenue, West Caldwel
    • For residents of West Caldwell, Bloomfield, Caldwell, Fairfield, Glen Ridge, Newark, North Caldwell and Roseland.

“Very soon, vaccines for the Coronavirus will be available and, working in partnership with our 22 municipal mayors, health officers, public safety officials and emergency management personnel, we have developed a comprehensive plan to administer vaccines to Essex County residents,” DiVincenzo said.

“In addition to wearing a mask, washing our hands, social distancing and getting tested, we encourage residents to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by getting vaccinated. Our comprehensive plan provides vaccination centers that are convenient to all Essex County residents. We encourage everyone to get the vaccine,” he added.

DiVincenzo said because only a limited number of vaccines are available today, vaccines will be distributed first to health care workers who have direct contact with patients have the coronavirus and people over age 65 with underlying health issues.

In the second phase of vaccinations, inoculations will be given to health care workers in hospitals, long-term care facilities and group homes; EMS workers and first responders; food and agriculture workers; government workers; residents of group-living settings; and those who work in education, childcare, energy, water and sanitation.

Disabled and uninsured people, along with college students, will then be vaccinated before the rest of the population.

Vaccinations will be given at no cost to residents, DiVincenzo said. Those with insurance will be billed $16.94 for the first dose and $28.39 for the second dose, but they will not have to pay out-of-pocket costs. Those without insurance will have their vaccine covered by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provide Relief Fund.

Essex County Health Officer Maya Lordo said residents will not be made to get a vaccine. Still, preventative measures like inoculation are recommended.

“Responding to a pandemic of this magnitude is a historical event. Under the leadership of County Executive DiVincenzo and working with our municipal partners, we have developed a vaccination program that will make it easy and convenient for every resident of Essex County to get vaccinated when the vaccines become available,” Lordo said. “While we respect those who do not want to receive the vaccine, from a public health perspective, getting inoculated will help tremendously to stop the spread of this deadly virus and create herd immunity.

Appointments are required for patients to get vaccinated and can be made by visiting www.EssexCOVID.org or calling 973-877-8456. Appointments only can be made after the County receives the vaccines.

Once vaccinated, residents will be given a card to remind them to return for a second dose of the vaccine and monitored for side effects for 15 minutes.

“Essex County has been hit extremely hard by COVID-19. We have more positive cases, and have had more COVID related deaths than any county in New Jersey,” said Freeholder President Brendan Gill. “The availability of the vaccine does not mean the end of COVID-19, but we are happy to provide our citizens with an option to protect themselves from contracting the virus, while also protecting our community by helping to stop the spread of the pandemic.”