Summit Senior, 98, Gets Second Covid-19 Vaccine Shot; Can You?

SUMMIT, NJ — With so many senior citizens in Union County struggling to find a coronavirus vaccine appointment, it's always nice to hear good news about a senior getting fully vaccinated.

Elizabeth Gargiulo told Patch this week that her mother, Florence Cafaro, who is 98 and a half, just got her second shot. Cafaro has been a resident of Summit for over 60 years.

"She got her vaccinations at Riverside Urgent Care in Watchung," Cafaro said. "The day of the shot, she was ok. The day after, her legs felt weak and she was tired. Two days after she was fine, no arm pain or leg weakness! I hope this encourages more people to get the vaccine!"

While elderly New Jersey residents have been able to get the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine since January, appointments have been hard to find, especially in Union County, where open slots have gone quickly, including on a recent Sunday.

But help is on the way on a number of fronts.

Where to get a shot

Patch has been publishing its list of public sites each week (see our updated Union County list here). In addition, certain medical practices, hospital networks, and some pharmacy chains (including two Union County CVS stores) have also opened up appointments via their own websites.

Earlier this week, Patch reported that teens and young people in Union County have started volunteering to use their tech skills to get elderly residents a shot. READ MORE: Westfield Teen's New Group Finds Coronavirus Vaccines For Seniors

And several weeks ago, Atlantic Health opened a vaccination site in Summit (READ MORE: New Coronavirus Vaccination Center To Open In Summit).

Seniors can call this number in Union County if they have no computer access: 908-613-7829, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 to 1 on Saturday.

Some in New Jersey have been helped by social media groups, like New Jersey Covid Vaccine Info on Facebook, which has 67,000 members.

More information, Johnson & Johnson vaccine news

New Jersey officials have said the goal is to vaccinate 70 percent of the adult population by the spring, in order to reduce the spread.

Presently, the state's sites are vaccinating people in the 1A and 1B groups, including certain essential workers, seniors over 65, and people 16-65 with chronic medical conditions. Find out if you qualify by clicking this link.

As of Wednesday, 504,000 Americans have died of the virus in 11 months. (You can see which states had the highest death toll in the past week on this CDC map.)

Two types of vaccines are presently offered, and more are on the way:

• Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, including the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, are a new type of vaccine that doesn't include the weakened virus, but teaches human cells to make a protein that triggers the immune response (read more about that here).
• The FDA may announce by Friday whether they will recommend a new one-shot vaccine developed Johnson and Johnson, which could be available in late March and uses more traditional technology. Read more about how it compares to the other vaccines by clicking here and here. Having the majority of the public vaccinated, no matter which vaccine, will also lessen the spread.

Here is the link to see the updated list of people eligible for a vaccine in New Jersey.

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Here are statewide coronavirus resources:

• NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: https://covid19.nj.gov/
• General COVID-19 questions: 2-1-1
• NJ COVID-19 hotline: (800) 222-1222

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