The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Somerset County officials are working on designating COVID-19 vaccination sites in the county, a spokesman said on December 21.
Two vaccines – by New York-based Pfizer and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna – have been given emergency use approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and are now being shipped to states.
The state and county are following guidelines created by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in determining to whom these first limited doses of the vaccine should go.
The first phase, 1A, will include “paid and unpaid persons serving in health care settings who have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials and long-term care residents and staff,” according to the state’s COVID-19 Information Hub web site.
The second phase, 1B, will include essential workers, and the third phase, 1C, includes adults aged 65 and over, and adults with underlying medical conditions, according to teh web site.
Once those three populations have been vaccinated, and assuming an adequate supply of vaccine exists, the general population will be vaccinated, according to the web site.
Vaccinations of paid and unpaid workers in hospitals began on December 15, according to the web site.
Vaccinations of long-term care residents and staff are expected to begin on December 28, according to the web site.
Six “mega vaccination sites” – the closest to Franklin being in the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison – are expected to open in early January, according to the web site.
These sites “will immediately be in position to vaccinate front-line healthcare workers and then continue in a phased approach depending on the supply of vaccine to New Jersey. After these phases are complete, then the general public will be eligible for vaccination. The timing of the progression among the groups depends on the supply of vaccine to the state,” according to the web site.
“Work is ongoing” by Somerset County officials choosing sites in the county where residents will be able to get vaccinated, county spokesman Nathan Rudy said.
Read Somerset County’s COVID-19 vaccination priority plan here.
The county “will immediately be in position to vaccinate front-line healthcare workers and then continue in a phased approach depending on the supply of vaccine to New Jersey. After these phases are complete, then the general public will be eligible for vaccination. The timing of the progression among the groups depends on the supply of vaccine to the state,” according to a document on the county Health Department’s web site.
The County will use the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System to schedule vaccinations and track vaccine information, according to the document.
The system will also allow the county to issue second-dose reminders, and give them a record to keep, according to the document.
