Penn Medicine Princeton Health and school nursing staffs across Central Jersey are teaming up to vaccinate school employees against COVID-19 as school districts return to more in-person instruction.
Nurses and other staff members from Princeton Health Community Wellness and Engagement will be traveling to schools in Middlesex, Mercer and Somerset counties to provide vaccine clinics for staff members of the host school as well as neighboring districts, according to information provided by Princeton Health on April 2.
School nurses attend the clinics to monitor individuals for 15 minutes after receiving the vaccine.
The effort kicked off on March 30 at Cranbury School and will continue for the next several weeks.
In mid-April, Princeton Health will also begin working with colleges and universities to vaccinate their staff members, according to the statement.
Vaccinating education and higher education staff is part of an ongoing, broader plan by Princeton Health to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to members of demographic groups that state health officials indicate may have challenges scheduling or getting to vaccine appointments, Margaret DeFalco, assistant vice president, Administrative Services, who supervises vaccine operations at Princeton Health, said in the statement.
She noted that Princeton Health also is focused on assisting people 65 and older who may have difficulty navigating online scheduling systems.
Princeton Health’s vaccine clinic on the Princeton Medical Center campus continues to serve all individuals who are eligible for the vaccine under state guidelines. The off-site clinics are being provided in addition to the full schedule of on-site vaccinations that were already arranged at Princeton Health.
“We are committed to fulfilling the lifelong healthcare needs of people in our community, and COVID-19 is the greatest public health challenge in recent memory,” DeFalco said in the statement. “Vaccinating as many people as possible is a crucial step. We are working with partners throughout the community to do this in a safe, effective, and equitable manner.”