Mercer Co. Partners With Penn Princeton To Run New Vaccine Site

EAST WINDSOR, NJ — Mercer County and Penn Medicine Princeton Health are partnering to expand the availability of COVID-19 vaccination, County Executive Brian M. Hughes announced Friday.

Beginning May 6, Princeton Health will manage the second of Mercer County’s vaccination sites, located at the lounge at Mercer County Park’s rink.

“This public-private partnership will provide convenient and free vaccinations to our residents, and we are excited to have Princeton Health come onboard to help us meet the needs of the community during this pandemic,” Hughes said in a statement.

For the past months, Mercer County has operated a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Mercer County Community College’s West Windsor Campus in collaboration with the college and municipal health departments.

The site has relied heavily on MCCC nursing students and volunteers to administer the vaccine. With nursing students preparing to leave at the end of the spring semester, the County is transitioning the vaccination site to the skating center.

Additionally, Princeton Health will provide staff to operate the county’s new mobile unit, which will schedule community-based vaccination clinics.

These clinics will be based at locations throughout the county to vaccinate hard-to-reach populations, like the elderly or those without transportation.

“We are excited to work with Mercer County to build on our efforts to date, which have included administering more than 25,000 vaccines to community members and our staff,” Princeton Health CEO James Demetriades said.

“This initiative has included providing pop-up clinics at more than a dozen locations across Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset counties, where we administered 2,300 vaccines to educators and school employees.”

The next phase of the community vaccination program will include deploying the new mobile unit to locations on the eastern side of Mercer County, where there is a large older adult population and community diversity.

The other vaccination clinic, in collaboration with Capital Health, is at CURE Arena, Trenton.

“Among my priorities is ensuring equitable access to vaccinations, and just as FEMA was able to target high-need communities in Trenton, which was hit particularly hard by the virus,” Hughes said.

This new spot has ample space and parking for elderly residents and individuals with disabilities.

Go to the New Jersey Vaccination Scheduling System (NJVSS) to register for vaccine appointments, https://covidvaccine.nj.gov.

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