Mercer County seeks to open a COVID-19 vaccination site at Mercer County Community College (MCCC) in February.
In mid-February the county plans to open the vaccination site for the public. According to Mercer County spokesman Michael Boonin, the college is holding a closed clinic this week to vaccinate its health care staff and nursing students, who will be involved in operating the county site along with municipal and county health department staff.
County officials previously stated that the MCCC vaccination site in West Windsor would be managed by the county’s Health Officers Association and use all of the resources and staffing available from the municipal and county health offices, as well as the MCCC nursing students.
The county’s Division of Public Health is being provided with 800 vaccine doses per week from the state for COVID-19 vaccinations.
“Mercer County is currently receiving 800 doses a week of the Moderna vaccine, which is being allocated to municipal health departments based on a rotating schedule agreed to by the Mercer County Health Officers Association,” he said.
Boonin added that a number of other health care entities in Mercer County, such as hospitals, pharmacies and urgent care centers are also receiving vaccine doses from the state.
In a letter to the community on Jan. 22, County Executive Brian Hughes said the county is facing a supply that falls short of demand, but officials are making sure they use every dose they receive.
As of Jan. 27, Mercer County has had 23,029 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 759 total deaths as a result of the virus since last March, according to New Jersey’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Mercer County recently announced a partnership and completed a soft opening with Capital Health for a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton. Capital Health is managing the site and is currently providing the vaccine being dispensed at CURE Arena.
According to the county, the vaccination sites at the CURE Insurance Arena and MCCC locations will not replace, only supplement, smaller vaccination sites including those currently being operated by municipal health departments and other health care facilities in Mercer County.
Vaccinations are currently available only for paid and unpaid persons who are healthcare personnel (Phase 1A), long-term care residents and staff (Phase 1A), first responders (Phase 1B), and individuals at high risk (Phase 1B), such as residents 65 and older and individuals ages 16-64 who have certain medical conditions.
New Jersey has already launched a statewide online portal for residents to pre-register to reserve a spot to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. The state also recently established a NJ Vaccine Call Center to assist residents to determine if they are currently available for a vaccine, help with pre-registering, and providing information on the vaccination site located near them.
However, the state COVID-19 information website (covid19.nj.gov) did highlight that due to the limited vaccine supply, appointments to get vaccinated are limited and will not be available for callers.