(Gloucester Township, NJ) – Beginning today, Jan. 14, the New Jersey Department of Health has expanded the population eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations at sites throughout the state. These groups can start making vaccination appointments immediately at the county’s newly opened vaccination center in Blackwood as well as at other vaccination sites throughout the county.
The following groups are eligible for vaccination as of this morning:
- Paid or unpaid persons working or volunteering in a healthcare setting;
- Residents of long-term care facilities and other congregate settings;
- Frontline first responders;
- Persons aged 65 and older; and
- Persons aged 16 to 64 years old who have at least one chronic medical condition that poses high-risk for severe COVID-19:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Down Syndrome
- Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
- Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant
- Obesity
- Pregnancy
- Sickle cell disease
- Smoking
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
The Camden County Board of Commissioners opened a COVID-19 vaccination site at Camden County College on Jan. 13. The site will be supported by volunteers from Cooper University Health Care, Jefferson Health – New Jersey, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, and Rutgers College of Nursing and operate six days a week, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will administer 500 vaccinations a day by appointment only. Eligible individuals can register for a vaccination appointment at www.CamdenCountyVaccine.com. Anyone not currently eligible can visit here to be notified when vaccinations become available to them.
The Camden County Vaccination Center is currently administering the Moderna Vaccine. The FDA has authorized the emergency use of the Moderna Vaccine to prevent COVID-19 in adults 18 years of age and older under the Emergency Use Authorization. The county’s site cannot vaccinate persons younger than 18 years of age.
County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli, Jr., talked about the importance of getting this vaccine into the hands of the public as quickly as possible.
“We all want to see an end to this pandemic and the more people who are vaccinated, the quicker we will see a return to the lives we use to know. For the first time since March there is light on the horizon,” Cappelli said. “This is an unprecedented vaccination effort that takes significant logistics and coordination to get the vaccine to everyone who wants it. The State of New Jersey ultimately determines the number of doses available and the timing about who is eligible to receive them. Nevertheless, getting this vaccine out to the public is one of the most important duties we have to protect the health and welfare of our residents and we are going to do everything possible to achieve that objective at Camden County College and hopefully other locations soon.”
The four-lane vaccination site will be staffed by public health employees, staff from both healthcare institutions and medical students from Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) and the Rutgers-Camden School of Nursing. Both organizations will have a key role in administering the vaccine and performing other functions in support of the clinic at the college campus. The Cooper Medical School and Rutgers Nursing students were vaccinated by Cooper to build the volunteer workforce for the vaccination site.
Individuals with questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine can call the vaccination information hotline. A hotline to assist individuals with scheduling their vaccination appointment will be available in the coming weeks.
More information regarding vaccine distribution in Camden County is being continuously updated on the county’s webpage, available here. Additional information can be found on the NJDOH webpage, here.