Teen Vaccinations In Gloucester Township, County Start Thursday

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — More than 500 students and staff in the Black Horse Pike Regional School District have signed up to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, Superintendent of Schools Brian Repici said on Wednesday.

When the district’s vaccination clinic gets underway at Triton Regional High School on Thursday, there will be 586 members of the school community who have signed up to get vaccinated, Repici said. Vaccinations will continue at Highland and Timber Creek on Friday.

“We are proud to be helping vaccinate our students and learning community as it will help our organization get back to normal operations,” Repici said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 12-15 last week. The district was ready to begin administering shots as soon as it was approved.

Shots will be administered at Triton Regional High School on May 20 and June 10, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. They will be administered at Highland and Timber Creek regional high schools on May 21 and June 14, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Two dates are needed because only the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for residents ages 16-and-up. Read more here: Black Horse Pike Schools To Vaccinate Students On Site This Week

On Thursday, the Camden County Health Department, in partnership with the Rutgers School of Nursing, and Cooper University Health Care will launch its school vaccination program for children from 12 to 18 years of age at Paul VI High School in the morning and Winslow High School in the afternoon.

The objective is to vaccinate has many students as possible to ensure the 2022 school year is uninterrupted and the community as whole gets one step closer to a post pandemic world.

“Creating a space and a place for in-class instruction for students, teachers and staff is something we have been dreaming about since the start of this pandemic,” Camden County Commissioner Al Dyer said. “This exercise will allow us to vaccinate as many eligible students as possible by bringing the vaccine to the schools themselves where the students are learning. This process will begin to allow us to provide a layer of protection over our children that was inconceivable six months ago and now we are making it a reality.”

Every Thursday and Friday, Camden County’s mobile clinic team will be visiting schools throughout the county to vaccinate as many students and families as possible.

In addition, the Pfizer vaccine will be distributed at the Camden County Vaccination Center for residents every Thursday, starting May 27. Read more here: Gloucester Township Site Offers COVID-19 Vaccine To Teens May 27

“Make no mistake, the COVID transmission rate is dropping because of our aggressive vaccine campaign, nevertheless, we are seeing the age level become younger and younger of those being infected,” Dyer said. “If we are able to vaccinate this young age group, we will make a big impact on the spread of this insidious virus.”

The vaccine is already available to Camden teens and tweens at the Cooper Vaccine and Education Center at The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center, 1865 Harrison Avenue in Camden. To make an appointment, call 856-225-6141. Walk-ins are also welcome.

“The FDA has rigorously evaluated the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness in clinical trials for children aged 12 to 15,” said Michael Kirchhoff, MD, an Emergency Medicine physician and Patient Safety Officer at Cooper University Health Care. “This simply means that it is safe for your tween or teen to be vaccinated, and it will allow them to get back to normal and doing the things they love.”

Vaccination Appointment Hours are:

• Mondays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.;
• Tuesdays, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.; and
• Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Camden County Commissioner Melinda Kane will be joined by Assistant Public Health Coordinator Caryelle Lasher to discuss news surrounding the vaccines and to update the public on the county's response to the pandemic at 3 p.m. Thursday.

The address will be streamed live on Camden County’s Facebook page and at camdencounty.com/live.

“We are continuing to encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect themselves from this virus and to help us put the pandemic behind us,” Kane said. “Our health department team and our partners are continuing to bring vaccines into the community and get residents vaccinated. The faster we can reach herd immunity, the faster we can get back normal.”