Matawan-Aberdeen Teachers Getting Vaccinated At Bell Works

ABERDEEN, NJ — This March, the Visiting Nurse Association of New Jersey opened a first-of-its-kind vaccination center at Bell Works in Holmdel, and partnered with area public schools to give schoolteachers priority to get their shots there.

The Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District is part of the partnership and as of Thursday, more than 250 teachers and staff have gotten at least their first shot there, according to MARSD superintendent Joseph Majka.

As of Feb. 1, Matawan-Aberdeen public schools fully reinstated five-days-a-week in-person learning for all students K-12, according to CentralJersey.com. There is no more hybrid scheduling. Students who choose to remain at home can still choose all virtual. Like with all school districts in New Jersey, students wear masks in classrooms.

Neighboring school districts are also using the Visiting Nurse Association/Bell Works site to get teachers vaccinated: Approximately 400 Middletown teachers and staff got their first vaccine dose there, and more than 90 teachers from Holmdel got their shots at Bell Works so far, with 150 more appointments booked.

180 teachers from Hazlet have been scheduled for shots at Bell Works.

Gov. Murphy opened vaccine eligibility to teachers and daycare workers on March 15.

The VNA partnership with schools has already vaccinated 2,100 teachers and staff in less than one month, according Monmouth County state Sen. Declan O'Scanlon (Republican). In fact, O'Scanlon predicted that at the current pace, Monmouth County schools can resume full-time classes by April 1.

On Wednesday of this week, Murphy called for all New Jersey schools to reopen "now" as he faces mounting pressure to get kids back in the classroom. However, he clarified to say that schools should either move to full in-person or hybrid. Some school districts in New Jersey, like Montclair, South Orange-Maplewood and New Brunswick have still been entirely virtual since last March.

As part of the second COVID relief bill passed by Congress, the American Rescue Plan, New Jersey will receive $267,527,208 ($267 million) to pay for COVID testing for teachers, staff and students "so that schools can safely re-open for in-person instruction," said this area's Congressman Frank Pallone (Democrat). State and certain local health departments should expect to receive the funding by early April.

As of Wednesday, 1,099,509 people in the state of New Jersey have been fully vaccinated, announced the governor.

For full information about getting a coronavirus vaccine in New Jersey, visit Patch's hub: https://patch.com/new-jersey/a...

Be the first to know what's happening in your town and area. Sign up to get Patch emails and don't miss a minute of local and state news: https://patch.com/subscribe