Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and all other Category 1A workers in Bergen County may receive doses of COVID-19 vaccine next week at New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, county executive Jim Tedesco said on Tuesday.
Officials anticipate the arrival of 1,000 doses of Modern COVID-19 vaccine “next week,” Tedesco said.
Based on priorities set by the New Jersey Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the doses “will serve Category 1A health care workers in Bergen County who have not received the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine through their employer or federal pharmaceutical partnership.” for the long-term care program (LTC) administered by CVS and Walgreens, ”he said.
Last week, all five hospitals in Bergen County received shipments of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Tedesco said.
“With the arrival of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, all category 1A health workers in Bergen County will now be eligible for vaccination,” he said on Tuesday. These include “any paid or unpaid person who works or volunteers in a” medical setting “who may have direct or indirect contact with people or infectious materials,” Tedesco said. Then comes category 1B of essential workers and then category 1C of adults over 65 with high-risk medical conditions, “he said.
The vaccines will be distributed to the county alternative care unit, a field hospital wing built by the Army Corps of Engineers with the help of FEMA earlier this year on the campus of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center.
The facility can distribute more than 300 vaccinations a day, which Tedesco said he described as a “large” distribution point location (POD) in New Jersey.
The Bergen New Bridge was recently designated by the state health department to serve as one of New Jersey’s first initial distribution points for the Moderna vaccine, the county executive said.
“It is essential that those at the forefront of our fight against the virus receive the human vaccine as soon as possible,” Tedesco said.
The classification for category 1A health workers, he said, includes:
- doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, any other authorized or registered medical professional;
- SME workers and paramedics;
- funeral staff, mortuary staff, coroners and staff;
- staff in the areas of facility management, security, food services, environmental services, administrative services, human resources, reception, language services, information technology, laboratory and other support areas;
- community health workers / promoters, doulas, health educators, public health professionals, trainees, students, volunteers, essential caregivers;
- vaccination of site staff and contractors.
COVID-19 vaccines “will continue to be launched in stages, and Bergen County, in partnership with Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, will continue to work closely with federal, state and local partners,” Tedesco said. The county is also “committed to continuing to provide COVID-19 testing for as long as necessary,” he said. “Please look for a future announcement of test dates for January.”
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