Union County To Vaccinate Homebound Residents In Cranford

CRANFORD, NJ — Union County began administering coronavirus vaccines to homebound residents in Cranford, Clark, and Garwood on Wednesday and will move on to other towns after that, they said this week.

Currently, the county will begin by offering the Moderna vaccination, and then transition into the Johnson and Johnson one-shot vaccination.

More than 2,000 residents have been identified as homebound and in need of the program throughout 21 Union County municipalities so far, according to Human Services Director Debbie-Ann Anderson.

Residents who are homebound and wish to receive a COVID-19 vaccination may call the County's Division on Aging and Disability Resources at 1-888-280-8226 between the hours of 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

To read the full eligibility rules and more information on this program, click here: READ MORE: Union County Begins COVID Vaccinations Of Homebound Residents

The town of Westfield has noted that it has been getting the vaccine to populations in underserved areas, and taking names of homebound seniors who need it. Homebound Westfield residents can call the Health Department at 908-789-4070 to receive more information about the homebound COVID-19 vaccination program. READ MORE: Westfield Partners With Groups To Get Vaccines To Residents

How else to get a vaccine

To find out how else to get a vaccine in Union County, read Patch's updated list here.

Seniors in Union County can call this number if they have no computer access: 908-613-7829, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 to 1 on Saturday.

On Friday, a CDC Panel recommended resuming the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after reviewing reports of 13 women getting blood clots — three fatal — out of 7.98 million receiving the shot. The shot will now come with a warning.

Hospitalization numbers statewide

• In New Jersey, on Wednesday, there were 35 new deaths reported from coronavirus since the day before. The state has seen a total of 22,884 deaths total from the virus.
• As of the most recent hospitalization count on Wednesday, 1,768 people are hospitalized with the virus in New Jersey, 375 of those in critical care. This is down from 2,261 people a week ago Monday.
• The state's daily death toll has not declined to the level of Sept. 8, when only 2 deaths were reported in one day. New Jersey's peak daily death toll on April 30, 2020 was 460 fatalities reported in one day. The numbers then steadily dropped during the shutdowns in the summer, until September, when they began rising again.

• Find out if you're eligible for a vaccine in NJ by clicking this link.
• As of this week, 574,000 Americans had died of the virus. (See how your county is doing with this CDC link.)
• Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, including the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, are a new type of vaccine that doesn't include the weakened virus, but teaches human cells to make a protein that triggers the immune response (read more about that here). See stories about all three vaccines here and here.

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Here are statewide coronavirus resources:

• NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: https://covid19.nj.gov/
• General COVID-19 questions: 2-1-1
• NJ COVID-19 hotline: (800) 222-1222

Alexis Tarrazi contributed reporting to this story.

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