A federally run pilot vaccination center in Newark is set to open Monday morning and will eventually be able to vaccinate 6,000 people a day, seven days a week, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Friday.
The site at Naimoli Family Athletic and Recreational Facility at the New Jersey Institute of Technology will aim to get shots to residents in vulnerable communities as defined by the federal Centers for Disease Control.
“It will focus on ensuring vaccine equity and reaching deep into communities with higher risks of virus exposure and infection,” Murphy said during an event at Kean University in Union Township.
The site — a partnership between the state, federal government, Essex County, and city of Newark — will not start with 6,000 doses a day but will “ramp up” to that number “over the next number of days,” Murphy said.
Eventually, it will be able to administer 42,000 doses a week — above and beyond the state’s usual allotment from the federal government, the governor said.
It will be in place for at least eight weeks, he said.
The White House said Friday that Essex County, which has poverty rate above 16%, has the most vulnerable population in New Jersey, according to the CDC’s criteria. Newark, the state’s most populous municipality, is the county seat.
The announcement comes the same day Murphy revealed New Jersey is further expanding eligibility for the coronavirus vaccine starting April 5.
The expansion includes people ages 55 to 64, those 16 and older with intellectual or developmental disabilities, higher education teachers and staffers, communication support workers, sanitation workers, and members of the media.
After another round of essential workers, including restaurant employees, will become eligible for the vaccine Monday.
Though demand in the state continues to outpace vaccine supply from the federal government, Murphy said New Jersey is able to expand eligibility because supply will soon increase and because of the opening of the Newark site. The state is set to receive 494,430 vaccine doses next week — an increase of about 19% from this week.
New Jersey health facilities and vaccine centers have already administered about 3.79 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine — including about about 2.5 million people with at least one dose and 1.35 million people considered fully vaccinated, according to state data.
The state’s goal is to vaccinate 70% of its eligible adults — about 4.7 million people — by the end of May.
So far, about 19.5% of the state’s 6.9 million adults have been vaccinated. About 14.6% of the state’s total 9.2 million residents have been vaccinated. By comparison, about 14.3% of the U.S.’s 331 million residents have been vaccinated, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.
This all comes as the state deals with rising COVID-19 cases. New Jersey on Friday reported another 4,339 confirmed cases and 28 additional confirmed deaths, marking the first time since Jan. 30 officials have announced more than 4,000 cases in one day. The number of coronavirus patients hospitalized in the state increased for the fourth consecutive day.
The state’s seven-day average for new confirmed cases is now 3,373, up 3.4% from a week ago and 30.7% from a month ago.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
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New federal COVID vaccination site in Newark will be able to give 6,000 shots a day, Murphy says - NJ.com
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