Gloucester Township COVID Vaccine Site Set For 100,000th Shot

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — A 20-year-old college student from Ecuador will receive the 100,000th dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to be administered at Camden County’s vaccination center in Gloucester Township Thursday morning, county officials announced.

Adrian Segovia lives in Camden County and majors in engineering at Camden County College, where the vaccination center is located, according to officials.

“Our vaccination clinic has operated throughout 2021 amidst changing vaccine guidelines, approvals, and pauses, and never stopped getting vaccines into the arms of residents who needed to be protected from this insidious virus,” Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said. “With more than two-thirds of our adult population having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, we have entered a new phase of our vaccine outreach, but our team is continuing to aggressively pursue herd immunity via mass vaccination. We are extremely thankful for our partners at the site and will be continuing to work together to end this pandemic and beat COVID-19 once and for all.”

As of Wednesday, 467,066 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered throughout Camden County. There are 264,337 people with at least one vaccine dose, and 222,424 people who are fully vaccinated.

The number of new cases continues to drop, as there were only 17 reported on Tuesday. Last week, Camden County averaged 35 new cases a day, Cappelli said. The infection rate is 0.77, and the percent positivity rate is 3 percent.

Camden County Assistant Public Health Coordinator Caryelle Lasher warned that the county saw a similar trend last year at this time. She said the decrease over the summer months was followed by a "devastating fall."

"I just really hope we use the momentum that we're picking up right now to get everyone vaccinated, and really prepare ourselves so we don't repeat history," Lasher said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, there were 35 new cases reported, bringing the total number of cases in the county since the beginning of the pandemic to 49,185, with 1,203 deaths.

“With the mask mandate in New Jersey set to end this weekend in most places, it is more important than ever that unvaccinated residents get their shot,” Cappelli said “The CDC’s guidance makes clear that it is only safe to remove your mask in indoor settings if you have been fully vaccinated. If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, do not wait any longer. Visit our team at one of our sites or head to a local provider in your community.”

Camden County recently began taking the COVID-19 vaccine into the community and schools. As a result, the county center in the Papiano Gym at Camden County College, 200 College Drive in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, will reduce their operations to two days a week.

The center will administer the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines on Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will administer the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 4p.m.

The center, operated by the county in conjunction with Jefferson Health - New Jersey and Cooper University Health Care will remain open to residents with or without an appointment.