Bayshore Pharmacy, Little Silver Pharmacy Now Have The Vaccine

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The coronavirus vaccine is now in stock at local Middletown-area small pharmacies, the owners of which said they have been waiting months to get it.

As of Friday, Bayshore Pharmacy in Atlantic Highlands and Little Silver Family Pharmacy now have the coronavirus vaccine. Middletown Pharmacy is on track to get it next week.

All the vaccines are Moderna. The vaccine is being shipped to independent pharmacies in New Jersey through the Good Neighbor Pharmacy federal network.

"We're getting 100 shots a week from the network," said Ross Brown, the pharmacist-in-charge at Little Silver Pharmacy. "We just got our first shipment Wednesday and about three quarters of those shots are already booked. We'll get another shipment next week. But we're very happy."

If you want to get the vaccine at Bayshore Pharmacy, you must register at their website: www.BayshorePharmacy.com/finallyhere. Little Silver Pharmacy does not have a web sign-up yet for the vaccine; call them here: (732) 741-1121

At Bayshore, you will be contacted when an appointment is made available. There is already a waitlist signed up to get it, so your name will be added to the waitlist.

Small pharmacies not given vaccine priority by state of NJ

For months, independent pharmacy owners in New Jersey lamented that government-run mega-sites and chain pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens were given priority in getting the vaccine over them.

"I don't understand how any of this made sense. Pfizer has my address on file; I've been getting vaccines delivered from them for years," said Richard Stryker in February; he owns Middletown Pharmacy and Bayshore. "They could have just shipped me the vaccine right off the line as soon as it was manufactured. I had elderly patients just sitting on their computers clicking 'refresh' for hours, hoping an appointment showed up somewhere."

Stryker also said his father, who started the pharmacy, would be mobbed every time he walked through the Port Monmouth Super FoodTown by people asking when they could get the shot.

For months, his answer has always been the same: The state wouldn't give it to him.

The New Jersey Health Department decides how to distribute the vaccine. The state said chain pharmacies and mega-sites ensured the most efficient, equitable distribution of the vaccine. Except for a handful that got it this spring, the state declined to release the vaccine to many small pharmacies in New Jersey.

Stryker said he was "excited" to now have the vaccine in stock.

"We have six vaccination rooms ready to go. Our freezers have vaccine in it and we are ready to go," said Stryker.

"Please be patient as we work through the waitlist to vaccinate our community," he said.

Past reporting: Middletown Pharmacist Asks: Why Can't His Store Offer Vaccines?

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