The Ocean County Health Department of New Jersey has teamed up with Visiting Nurse Association or VNA Health Group to launch a mobile COVID-19 vaccination site in the next few days.
Currently, the vaccination site is outside Lowe's on Hooper Avenue in Toms River.
According to News 12, a pharmacist stated that the calls for vaccines had increased 40% in the past few weeks.
Ocean County Health Department Mobile Vaccination
New Jersey's health department is reaching out to unvaccinated young adults, particularly Black and Hispanic communities, as reported by NewJersey.com.
According to state officials, immunization rates are the lowest among these groups, even though they are considered high risk for infection.
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New Jersey's Gov. Phil Murphy and state health commissioner Judy Persichilli talked about the state's campaign toward immunization and how essential it is to make sure that the minorities are included in the campaign.
The state aims to have at least 4.7 million people vaccinated against COVID-19 by September.
In July, more than 7.8 million doses were administered through the state's COVID-19 vaccination program. Currently, more than 3.7 million residents are fully vaccinated.
Persichilli stated that both Hispanic and Black residents are underrepresented when it comes to immunizations. She explained that it is important for the state to reach the demographic to work towards herd immunity in its vaccination campaign.
The state universities will also require students to get the COVID-19 vaccination.
Reaching Out to Unvaccinated Minorities
The overall vaccination rates of the state show that white residents are more likely to be immunized than Hispanic and Black residents.
Out of the 7.8 million shots administered, 54% went to white residents, 12% went to Hispanics, 10% were administered to Asians, and only 7% were given to the Black residents.
Almost 20% went to those who did not provide their ethnicity or listed their race as "others."
The state has a population of 9 million, and two-thirds of them are white residents. , the Hispanic community makes up 20%, the Black community makes up 14%, the Asian community makes up 10%.
Persichilli stated that the state wants to concentrate on Hispanic men because they are three times more likely to get infected and die from the coronavirus than other ethnicities.
The Black community is two times as likely to get infected and die from the virus. The goal of the Department of Health is to prevent mortality and morbidity, so they are using the mobile vaccination site to reach out to the said communities.
Although the demand for the vaccine outpaced the supply, interest has increased in the past couple of months.
The daily COVID-19 shots in April was 120,000, but since the vaccine supply is not enough, the state only administered 40,000 shots in July.
The demand has been greatest among the elderly, especially in long-term care centers or nursing homes.
Around 86% of people over the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, while 70% of those over 50 have been vaccinated, according to Bloomberg.
For those ages 30 to 49, the DOH data shows that the immunization rate is only 55%, and for ages 16 to 29, the immunization rate is only 40%.
With the mobile COVID-19 vaccination site, the state officials are hoping to reach out to more people to achieve their target number of vaccinated residents. Those who wish to know where the nearest vaccination sites are and if vaccines are available can sign up for alerts via Visualping.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Sophie Webster
