COVID-19 Vaccine Demand Strong In Ocean County

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Health care workers seeking COVID-19 vaccinations through the Ocean County Health Department will need to be patient, as demand has filled vaccine clinic appointments quickly, the county says.

The county received an initial shipment of 1,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine, and had distributed more than 1,000 of them as of Monday. The county received another shipment Monday of 4,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, said Brian Lippai, the department's public information officer.

The county's COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the RWJ Barnabas Health Arena at Toms River High School North has changed its hours, to 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and added Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to get people vaccinated.

"As of now, we are providing almost 300 vaccines a day," said Daniel Regenye, public health coordinator for the Ocean County Health Department.

Vaccinations are being limited to people eligible for Phase 1A, which is health care workers (paid or unpaid) who are at risk of direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials and are unable to work from home. It includes public health care workers, school nurses, emergency medical technicians and emergency medical services, and is for those who did not receive the vaccine at area hospitals or at long-term care facilities. People 75 or older who are residents of long-term care facilities should be offered vaccination in Phase 1A, officials have said.

There are about 650,000 people eligible for Phase 1A, and it may take weeks to vaccinate all of them, officials said.

The phases are defined by the Centers for Disease Control, and that protocol is being followed by New Jersey health officials.

Phase 1B includes front-line essential workers such as firefighters, police officers, food and agricultural workers, United States Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, and those who work in the educational sector (teachers, support staff, and day care workers). In addition people 75 and older are part of Phase 1B because they are at high risk of hospitalization, illness, and death from COVID-19.

"While we expect the demand will be high, there is a process we are required to follow," Regenye said. "It’s important that we adhere to the schedule developed by the federal government and the state Department of Health."

"Hopefully the supply of vaccine will increase quickly and distribution will do the same," he said.

Appointments, when available, can be made through the Ocean County Health Department website. As of Tuesday, there were no appointments available into next week.

"We are booked pretty solid for the next two weeks at least," Lippai said, but he added Moderna has said it hopes to manufacture and ship 600 million doses to the United States by the end of March to help meet the demand.

Health care workers seeking vaccinations can find other sites on the state's website.

Ocean County Commissioner Gerry P. Little, liaison to the health department, said agencies in Ocean County are working intensely to get the vaccine to the individuals eligible in the first phase.

"We are following the guidelines given to us by the state and the federal government," Little said. "I am pleased to hear there is such a great interest in people getting the vaccine. We all want to see COVID-19 stopped."

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