By Walter Elliott
NEWARK – The first of the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus vaccines here at University Hospital Dec. 15 is being heralded by some officials as the turning of the corner on the pandemic.
That corner – given the vaccination supply chain and the prioritizing of those being vaccinated – may be a long one to turn for the average Joe or Jane.
University Hospital emergency room RN Maritza Beniquez, on her 56th birthday, received the first of the 76,500 Pfizer/BioNTech SE doses delivered to New Jersey at 8:10 a.m. Tuesday. What the five-year nurse received was the first batch shared here and by four selected hospitals in Atlantic City, Camden, Morristown and New Brunswick.
The first batch was given FDA emergency authorization for use Dec. 11 – a week after Great Britain made a similar authorization for the U.S.-German-developed vaccines. New York City began inoculating its emergency medical staff Monday.
Beniquez and the next four inoculations of a scheduled 80 Tuesday were observed by Gov. Phil Murphy before he left University Vaccine Clinic to hold a press conference next door.
“This’ a day we’ve been waiting for almost a year,” said Murphy (D-Rumson). “It’s an incredible thrill to witness these first vaccinations. We know this is not the end but we’re witnessing at least the beginning of the end.”
The vaccine’s arrival is part of what observers have billed as the largest inoculation campaign conducted in U.S. history. Developing the vaccine has been under the wing of “Operation Warp Speed,” a federal program authorized by President Donald J. Trump May 15.
“Warp Speed” is a public-private partnership where pharmaceutical companies develop their vaccines and the FDA supervises clinical trials simultaneously. It’s “all at once” model also covered vaccines’ mass production and transportation.
University Hospital was selected among the first five Garden State hospitals to get 54,000 doses since Newark and Essex County were – and are- on the pandemic’s front line. Essex County has had the highest rate of infections and deaths in New Jersey – and Newark the highest rates among Essex’s 22 municipalities.
“When COVID came, it was our worst nightmare,” said Beniquez. “It was just wave after wave of critically ill patients coming in with no end in sight. It was like a tornado or a hurricane causing that sort of devastation in the field – but instead of building, it was our own people, or Black and Latino communities.”
The other initial 20,000 doses are going to some of the long-term health care institutions. Doctors, nurses, technicians in hospitals and nursing homes plus nursing home residents have been given top inoculation priority.
The first and subsequent vaccine doses are to be distributed from University and the other first four hospitals to another 47 on or by Dec. 18 – or as soon as a second wave of 86,000 doses arrive.
(There may be delays in distribution and inoculation due to the impending Dec. 16-17 Nor’easter that may dump between six and 24 inches of snow across most of New Jersey.)
A vaccine developed by Moderna is pending FDA authorization as of presstime. Some of that first 154,000 doses, once it gets the likely approval, will be going to Essex County’s five vaccination sites.
Essex County Maya Lordo announced the five sites Dec. 15. One site, in the old Kmart in West Orange, was seen being prepared as early as Dec. 12.
Newark residents, due to its 270,000 population, can make appointments at any of the five sites. Residents of the other 21 municipalities will have to go otherwise designated sites:
· Essex County College, Physical Education Building, 202 University Ave., Newark for: Newark, East Orange, Irvington residents. (Enter gym on West Market St.)
· West Orange/Kmart Plaza, 235 Prospect Ave., West Orange: Newark, West Orange, Montclair, Nutley, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Verona.
· Livingston Mall, former Sears, 110 Eisenhower Pkwy., Livingston: Newark, Livingston, Belleville, Maplewood, Orange, South Orange, Millburn.
· Essex County West Caldwell Tech HS, 620 Passaic Ave., W. Caldwell: W. Caldwell, Newark, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Caldwell, Fairfield, North Caldwell, Verona.
· (On standby) Essex County Donald M. Payne, Sr. HS, 498-566 W. Market St., Newark: Newark, East Orange, Irvington.
Lordo and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo at the ECC gym Tuesday, said that appointees will be accepted regardless of insurance status – but they will be asked who their carrier is.
Those who are insured will have their carriers billed $16.94 for the first dose and $28.39 for the second when they return two weeks later. The inoculation does require two shots spaced a fortnight apart.
Those who are uninsured are to have their shots covered by the” Health Association and Services Administration’s Relief Fund.” There will be no out-of-pocket expenses or charges at the five sites.
State health officials are aiming for 70 percent of New Jersey’s nine million residents being vaccinated over the winter.
Keep in mind that there are other pharmaceutical companies awaiting to pass FDA muster. AstraZeneca and Sanofi, for example, are undergoing clinical trials.
The vaccines’ arrival comes while New Jersey and the world are experiencing the highest infection and death rates since the Spring. This second wave has increased hospital patient ICU admissions in some medical centers nationwide to near capacity.
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