Essex County Announces Big Changes At Its COVID Vaccine Sites

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County announced some big changes at its five COVID-19 vaccine sites on Tuesday, including the launch of "walk-in" hours in Newark and West Orange.

Appointments can still be made at www.EssexCOVID.org, or by calling 973-877-8456. But they are no longer needed between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. from Monday to Saturday at the county-run centers at the old Kmart at 235 Prospect Avenue in West Orange, or Essex County College at 177 West Market Street in Newark.

The sites are open to people who live, work or attend school in Essex County.

Meanwhile, county officials announced last week that the vaccination centers at the old Sears in Livingston, West Caldwell Tech in West Caldwell and the Donald Payne School in Newark will no longer be administering first doses of the Moderna vaccine.

The three sites will remain open to provide second doses of the Moderna vaccine. People who received their first doses at these three clinics should return to them to receive their second dose, officials said.

For now, the site in Livingston is also taking appointments for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as seen on the county's appointment finder website.

However, the only sites that will be open after May will be the sites at Kmart in West Orange and Essex County College in Newark, a county spokesperson told Patch. Both sites will offer the Moderna vaccine.

“Throughout the entire vaccination process, we were constantly fine tuning our program to make sure everyone who wants to get vaccinated can do so,” Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said.

“Opening our sites to walk-in appointments will make it even easier and more convenient to get vaccinated,” DiVincenzo continued. “Getting vaccinated is the strongest tool we have to combat the coronavirus and help us return to normalcy.”

VACCINES IN ESSEX COUNTY

In December 2020, the county opened vaccination sites in Livingston, Newark, West Caldwell and West Orange, becoming the first in New Jersey to do so. The county later opened an additional site in Newark.

As of May 1, those five sites have administered 175,965 first doses and 133,851 second doses of the Moderna vaccine, and 12,954 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. There are 798,975 people living in Essex County, according to the most recent U.S. Census estimate.

The county has also been reaching out to people who can’t make it to the above sites. As officials pointed out:

“In addition to operating five stationary vaccination sites, Essex County created special program to bus senior citizens to vaccination sites, created a mobile vaccination program to host clinics at churches, community centers and senior buildings – and is expanding that program to include a second unit, opened pop-up vaccination clinics at homeless shelters and boarding homes to vaccination vulnerable residents and partnered with municipal mayors and health officers to identify and vaccinate homebound residents.”

New Jersey has also cleared the way for many other vaccination sites across the state, including Federally Qualified Health Centers, supermarkets, pharmacies and doctor's offices. Some are accepting appointments or have residency requirements, but others do not. People can visit COVIDvaccine.nj.gov to preregister.

There are currently more than 40 places in Essex County where people can get a COVID-19 vaccine, including local pharmacies, hospitals and medical offices. Read More: Essex County COVID Vaccine Update (Where To Get Your Shot)

New Jersey recently opened its COVID-19 eligibility list to anyone over 16. Some sites in Essex County, such as a federal-backed center in Newark, use the Pfizer version, which is approved for people 16 and over. However, many other sites use the Moderna version, which is only available to people 18 and up.

New Jersey has launched a "vaccine appointment finder" that can be seen here.

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