New Jersey's Department of Education will receive $2.765 billion to allocate to school districts and Camden County public schools can expect more than $200 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to get students back in buildings and on track academically after more than a year of learning disruptions. Merchantville School District is slated to receive $779,000. Disbursements to districts vary and are based on a funding formula accounting for the number of students enrolled in the district, poverty demographics and school building age.

Officials at the Camden County Vaccination Center are urging residents to cancel their upcoming appointments if they receive their vaccination at another site. Failing to arrive at your scheduled appointment slows the rollout process and deprives someone else the opportunity to get their shot sooner than expected. In recent weeks, a growing number of patients have managed to secure earlier appointments at other sites in South Jersey thanks to an increase in vaccine providers but are often not cancelling their existing appointments at the Vaccination Center. These “no-shows” leave dozens of appointments unfilled when other patients could have been brought in earlier. You can cancel an existing appointment through the MyCooper platform, or by calling (856) 549-0530.

Currently in New Jersey, vaccines are available to paid and unpaid healthcare workers, residents and staff of long-term and congregate care facilities, first responders including sworn law enforcement and fire professionals, individuals over 65, and individuals 16-64 with certain medical conditions that increase the risk of severe illness from the virus, as defined by the CDC. If you are eligible to receive a vaccine, there are multiple ways to get vaccinated: pre-register and make an appointment through the NJ Vaccine Scheduling System. Register here; make an appointment directly with a vaccination location. View locations here; you work at a select healthcare facility, make an appointment through your place of work; and veterans who receive care from VA health facilities or live in VA long-term care facilities may be eligible for vaccines through the VA. Learn more here. If you experience an error, need support with the scheduling system, or need to correct an error, you can complete an online form at covid19.nj.gov/vaccinehelp or call 855-568-0545 for phone support from 8 am to 8 pm. Due to high call volumes, callers are experiencing long wait times. If you make your first dose appointment through the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System, you will receive an automatically scheduled second dose appointment and you will be emailed a confirmation with the details of your second dose appointment.

Merchantville added 59 resident cases of COVID-19 in December and a total of 203 cases since March. Most recent cases include young adults under 40 and teens. Please protect yourself and others - wear a mask, stay physically distant from those you don't live with and not gathering in social groups. Camden County provided a breakdown of cases through December 31st. The aggregate number of confirmed positive cases to date is 28,768 in Camden County today and 747 total fatalities. New Jersey has counted 477,360 cumulative cases in the state since March and 17,021 lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths, according to the state Health Department.