Displaying items by tag: vaccination

Millions of mini-doses of COVID-19 vaccines are likely to be shipped to states this week after the federal government gave the go-ahead for shots in all children as young as 6 months old. But the rollout of this vaccination program will look different from past initiatives, at least in New Jersey. Pediatric vaccines will be available at the state’s two remaining regional COVID-19 mega-sites, but pediatricians and family doctors, community clinics and local health departments will also be among the first to offer the tot-sized doses. Drugstores have also requested early shipments. NJ state officials have provided millions of dollars to community-based organizations to operate testing and vaccination programs and develop effective strategies for attracting New Jerseyans. Many groups are focusing on families with young children, now that children under 5 years old are eligible for a COVID-19 shot. Ideas include weaving COVID-19 immunizations into regular well-child visits and back-to-school checkups, pop-up clinics with dedicated outreach in advance, and education campaigns targeted to under-vaccinated areas. Generally speaking, children are at less risk of bad COVID-19 outcomes than older, vulnerable adults, but they are far from immune and health experts agree that the protective power of the COVID-19 vaccines, while not as effective against some new coronavirus strains, is undeniable.

The Board of Commissioners, in partnership with Cooper University Health Care and the Rutgers-Camden School of Nursing, began to administer the COVID-19 vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old on November 4th. The Camden County Health Hub, located on the Camden County College campus in Blackwood, will hold the first appointments to give the Pfizer vaccine. Residents who would like schedule their child for a Pfizer vaccine can go to https://www.cooperhealth.org/ or can call (856) 549-0530. Next week, the administration of the vaccine for children and regular Health Hub operational hours will be expanded to Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The expansion will provide the ability to add hundreds of new appointments throughout the day. Scheduling information here.

The Camden County Department of Health is announcing 678 new positive cases of COVID-19 and 9 new deaths which occurred between Saturday, October 16, and Friday, October 22nd. One hundred seventy-eight (178) are among patients under 18 years old. Seven (7) new cases were identified in Merchantville. The average age of the newly infected is 35.7 years old. Current NJ Dashboard data as of 10/20/2021 shows Merchantville residents improving on their vaccination status since 3 weeks ago. Residents who have received at least one dose age 12 and over increased from 85% to 87%; age 18 and over increased from 81% to 83%; age 30 and over went from 82% to 84%; and, age 65 and over from 97% to 100%. Merchantville's completed dose rate for age 12 and over improved from 81% to 82%; age 18 and over went from 76% to 78%; age 30 and over increased from 76% to 78% ; and, age 65 and over grew from 93% to 94%. NJ Covid-19 vaccination information. Keep up the good work - get vaccinated - get your booster!

New Jersey has launched a new process to help individuals who are homebound to obtain COVID-19 vaccination. Homebound individuals or their caregivers can now go tohttps://covid19.nj.gov/homeboundvax, or call 1-855-568-0545, to complete a form to request in-home vaccination. Once the completed form is submitted, NJDOH will forward the form to a home health agency, local health department or other vaccination provider, and the individual who submitted the form will be contacted to schedule an in-home vaccination appointment.

Florida has seen at least three days of record-breaking COVID-19 cases since the start of August. Overall, the number of new daily cases has continued to increase in Florida and the state has become the new epicenter for COVID. According to CDC data, the state's seven-day moving average number of cases has continued to increase since mid-July to numbers that the state had not seen throughout the pandemic. The situation is especially dire in Louisiana and Florida, which have the country’s worst hospitalization rates. As of Wednesday afternoon, nearly 500 students in Palm Beach were quarantined after being exposed to COVID-19 just two days into the school year. On Friday, the Broward County Teachers Union announced that three unvaccinated teachers died of COVID-19 within 24 hours this week. Florida and Texas alone have accounted for nearly 40% of new hospitalizations across the country. Florida is 3rd in overall cases of Covid and 4th in overall deaths, Texas is 2nd in overall cases and 3rd in overall deaths from Covid so far. Simultaneously, the crush of new COVID-19 infections in Mississippi and Tennessee has become so dire that the state has turned to efforts reminiscent of the earliest days of the U.S. pandemic - the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) opening up a 20-bed field hospital in its parking garage on Friday morning. In Mississippi, where daily cases have doubled in the last two weeks, more than 4,400 students were quarantined from August 2 to 6, according to state data. Low vaccination rates and the more infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus have driven a surge of COVID-19 cases across the United States, overwhelming some state medical systems. Southern states, many with vaccination rates well below the national average, have seen explosive case growth. As of August 12th, although 83% of Texans are age 12 and older and eligible for a vaccine, only 44.8% are fully vaccinated. People between the ages of 20 and 59 now account for a higher proportion of COVID-19 hospitalizations than in January.