While the push is on to get more of the COVID-19 vaccine, there is some hope on the horizon as both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are nearing the end of their vaccine trials.
With the state s positivity rate being just over 10%, second doses become that much more important.
Health care workers who received their first dose 28 days ago are now getting their second dose as scheduled amid concerns of widespread availability in New Jersey.
A vaccine center in Newark at Essex County College, one of the first to be opened, will be administering second doses to those health care workers.
The state has six vaccine mega-sites open the most recent opening Friday in East Rutherford at the Meadowlands.
However, there are more people eligible to be vaccinated than there are available vaccines.
Toni Yates reports on the couple offering good to those in need during the pandemic.
The soup kitchen, supported by Franciscan Charities, would feed hundreds of families in the dining hall until COVID forced the space to shut down - but it did not stop the outreach. It s changed in a dramatic way in that now there are more working poor, people who have lost their jobs, who have not been unemployed before but are now either unemployed or underemployed, Miller said.
Volunteers continue to show up because they could not leave their clients hungry. The chef kept cooking and meals were handed out outside - with precautions in place.
Dr. Kara Chenitz and Dr. William Chenitz work as a team at St. Michaels Hospital in Newark.
The head of the hospital is proud of his staff s performance during the pandemic and in stepping up to take the COVID shot, but the main issue is getting enough of the vaccine.
Since the start of 2021, the state has received 106,000 doses each week, but state officials say a slightly bigger supply comes next week.
With more available vaccine, the hope is teachers will soon be immunized. Most schools in the state are operating online or a hybrid learning system, but the feeling is that will change when the vaccine is widely available.
Anthony Johnson reports on New Jersey s State of the State address.
Mildred, who has now live through two pandemics, received her shot to a round of applause. She was followed by nurse Esther Moodey, the state s first nursing home staff member to receive the vaccine. It is an understatement to say that this has been an incredibly challenging year for all of us in healthcare, on many levels, Moodey said after receiving the first dose. I am thankful for the COVID-19 vaccine and honored to be the first staff member at our facility receive it, in solidarity with my colleagues in other long term care facilities around New Jersey. The vaccine brings hope and optimism about the future and promise of a return to normal.