Bergen County, New Bridge Launch COVID Vaccine Call Center

PARAMUS, NJ — A COVID-19 vaccination call center is set to launch for appointment assistance at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center.

Bergen County and Bergen New Bridge have partnered for the effort, which will help residents book their appointment at the Alternative Care Facility Annex in Paramus.

But before the call center can begin scheduling appointments from callers, operations will begin as an outreach center, County Executive Jim Tedesco said.

"We were quick to respond to our community by standing up our collaborative vaccination program at Bergen New Bridge. When we rolled out our registration program, we were only vaccinating healthcare workers and EMS as per the initial guidelines. Our system allowed anyone to register and be placed on a waiting list for when their category became active," said Tedesco.

"Soon after we started our process, the Governor expanded the current vaccination category to include our 65 and over population, police officers, fire fighters, and those ages 16-64 with CDC listed conditions. Many of these people already registered with us indicating a later category so we are reaching out to them to make sure they get an appointment."

Once the call center completes the initial outreach initiative, operations will transition to serve as an incoming helpline.

New Bridge President and CEO Deborah Visconi said that the transition will provide a substantial lift to the county's vaccination efforts.

"Our new help line will become a critical component of our equity and senior assistance programs as well," said Visconi. "This is just another way we are working to address and break barriers impacting our diverse communities. We are committed to leading the way out of this pandemic through equitable access to continued COVID-19 testing, therapeutic treatments, and to quickly getting vaccines to as many individuals as possible, including our senior and underserved populations."

The county has been able to get over 30,000 residents in the vaccination program at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center thus far, but Tedesco said getting an appointment remains difficult during his State of the County address this week. Read more: Herd Immunity Priority Number 1 In Bergen County For 2021

"I give you my word, I will do everything in my power to get more needles in the arms of our residents," he said.

That should be easier to do in the coming weeks, after Gov. Phil Murphy expanded the list of people now eligible to receive the vaccine. Newly added are educators, tribal communities, day care workers, public transit employees and those experiencing homelessness, among others. Read more: More NJ COVID Vaccine Expansion: Clergy, Food Workers, Day Care

Another boon to the efforts come in the form of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, 70,000 doses of which are to be delivered to New Jersey by the end of the week, according to Murphy.

"The importance of having a third highly effective vaccine in our toolkit, especially one that requires only one dose and that can be stored in regular refrigeration, cannot be overstated," Murphy said. "This is a game-changer to get more shots in arms as with everything else we just need the supply."

For now, vaccination appointments can still be scheduled online at www.bergenCOVIDvaccine.com.

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