Gloucester Township COVID-19 Vaccination Center To Close

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — As the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine drops, Camden County is closing its vaccination center temporarily, effective July 1, county officials announced Monday morning.

The center, located in the Papiano Gym at Camden County College, 200 College Drive in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, is currently open two days a week.

The center had been administering the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines on Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 4p.m.

“We will still be out in the community offering vaccinations,” Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said. “During the month of July, we will continue to evaluate and determine what’s best. We’re happy that so many private outlets are now providing the vaccine, and if you want to get a vaccine, you can get one.”

The efforts have included vaccinating residents who attend concerts in Camden County, getting vaccines to the home bound and holding clinics for teens who are eligible for the vaccine.

The center opened in January. Since then, more than 285,000 Camden County residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and more than 254,000 residents have been fully vaccinated, Cappelli said.

The county is averaging nine new cases of the coronavirus a day, and both the infection and positivity rates have dropped below 1 percent, Cappelli said.

However, officials warned that the threat of the coronavirus remains serious, particularly with the emergence of the Delta variant.

“It is still serious,” Cappelli said. “We are not over this, as much as we’ve opened up. Those of you who have not been vaccinated need to get vaccinated for your own health, for the health of the community, and so that we can continue the opening up process. If things go in reverse, things can go backward very quickly.”

The Delta Variant was first discovered in India, is more transmissible, and is more severe than other strains of the coronavirus.

“You could have a quick conversation with someone and catch it,” Rebecca Bryan, Director of Community Engagement and Professional Development at Rutgers Nursing School-Camden, said.

It is often identified in areas in which vaccination rates are low. It has not yet been identified in Camden County, where 73.6 percent of all adults have received at least one dose. Read more here: Camden County Ahead Of Biden’s Coronavirus Vaccine Goal

It may impact those who have been vaccinated who have an immune deficiency. Despite that, officials said the best way to combat the virus is to get vaccinated, particularly since the vaccines are effective against the Delta Variant.

“The reason it’s important to get vaccinated is so that you’re not giving the chance for that virus to mutate,” Rachel Honrychs, of the Camden County Health Department, said.