Vaccination rates for COVID-19 among the staff at New Jersey’s long-term care facilities vary widely, but are too low at many facilities to prevent future outbreaks of the disease that has claimed more than 8,020 staff and resident lives so far at such facilities more than one-third of the state’s pandemic deaths.
“It appears efforts to provide access and education to long-term care health care providers are falling short of what we had hoped,” said Melissa O’Connor, a professor at Villanova University’s nursing school, whose work focuses on geriatrics.
The snapshot of vaccination rates, from data reported by the nursing homes for April 21, underscores the challenges that remain for both long-term care and the public at large in overcoming vaccine hesitancy to reach a level of immunity that will slow and ultimately stop the pandemic’s spread.
COVID NJ: Nursing home residents at risk as staff vaccines lag
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COVID NJ: Nursing home residents at risk as staff vaccines lag
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Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, meanwhile, anticipates getting 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine within the next week, for health care workers who have not received the Pfizer vaccine through their employer or the federal vaccine program for long-term care facilities, administered through CVS and Walgreens.
In coordination with the state Department of Health, Bergen County will soon announce the designated registration process for category 1A health care workers to receive the vaccine.
A field hospital wing constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers with help from FEMA on the campus of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center will serve as the vaccine distribution site. The facility can handle over 300 vaccinations per day.