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.
Only 15% of the COVID vaccine N.J. saved for long-term care has been used. Here’s why.
Updated Jan 14, 2021;
Posted Jan 13, 2021
Efraim Siegfried comforts Mildred Clements, 103, as she receives the vaccine at the Roosevelt Care Center in Old Bridge, N.J. December, 28, 2020.Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for
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When state officials announced that long-term care residents and staff would be among the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine, it made good sense to reserve 215,000 doses of the weekly shipments from the federal government for that purpose.
But a month after New Jersey received its first vaccine deliveries and 2 1/2 weeks after nursing home vaccinations started, only 15% of that vaccine has made it out of the freezer and into someone’s arm.
Credit: Jeff Rhode/Holy Name Medical Center
March 19, 2020: Ranvir Singh, RN, cares for a patient in the intensive care unit at Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck.
Like something from science fiction, 2020 was upended by a minute, spike-crowned virus that spread aggressively among people, caused unprecedented disease and death, and altered the way we do everything from celebrate holidays to vote for president.
The novel coronavirus put immense stress on all our public structures, but the impact was particularly profound for health care systems nationwide and in New Jersey, which was among the first states to diagnose cases of COVID-19 the disease caused by the virus and which remains among those hardest-hit by the pandemic.
Credit: CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM
This 3-D illustration, now familiar to the world, reveals the structure of the coronavirus, its grey sphere spiked with tufts of protein, making for the ominous-looking corona that gave it its name.
Major issues were stacked up, ready for attention in New Jersey at the start of 2020. Then came the coronavirus and, for so many New Jerseyans, untold pain physical, mental and economic.
Life went on in a state of disequilibrium. We can be forgiven for wanting to forget the year 2020. But before we close it out, let’s look again at pictures that tell the story of life in New Jersey during a historic time.
WESTAMPTON TWP., New Jersey (WPVI) Vaccinations began for residents and staff of long term care facilities in New Jersey on Monday, as well as for some local first responders.
Mildred Clements - who just turned 103 on December 24 - became the first long term care resident in New Jersey to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at Roosevelt Care Center in Old Bridge, Middlesex County.
Meanwhile, nurse Esther Moodey became the first staff member to be vaccinated in the kick-off to a statewide effort to vaccinate the vulnerable, in partnership with CVS and Walgreens. CVS has already coordinated and scheduled visits to 277 long term care centers across the state over the next six weeks to provide roughly 80,000 vaccinations, said Gov. Phil Murphy during Monday s COVID-19 briefing in Trenton.