By: Joshua Gras, Writer / Follow South Jersey News Reporting Intern
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — On Wednesday, Atlantic City and RCSJ-Gloucester’s COVID-19 vaccine mega sites reopened after being closed for two days due to the major nor’easter that struck the northeastern United States on Monday and Tuesday.
The Atlantic City Convention Center was chosen as the location for this new mega site, which is the sixth to open in New Jersey. The mega site has the capacity to vaccinate between 2,500 to 3,500 people per day, but due to shortages in the number of vaccines supplied to the state of New Jersey the site has yet to be able to reach that number.
The only groups eligible to receive the vaccine at this point in time are frontline workers (category 1A) and those aged 16-64 with underlining illnesses (category 1B). All community members over the age of 65 and other essential workers such as first responders are also eligible to receive the vaccine at this time.
Right now, the mega site only has the two vaccines that have been approved for use (Moderna and Pfizer) that require two dosesto work in protecting against the virus. In a January 20 Q&A hosted by the Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce, it was said that 55% of AtlantiCare healthcare workers were already vaccinated at that time.
Atlantic City opened its mega site for COVID-19 vaccinations on January 22 to speed up the process of getting the shots to those most in need. The center was closed due to the major nor’easter that brought up to 30 inches of snow to parts of New Jersey
At the time of publication, the appointments at the Atlantic City mega site are currently full and those who had an appointment scheduled for Monday, February 1 have been pushed to February 4 due to hazardous road conditions caused by snowy weather.
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This article was produced by a Follow South Jersey news intern thanks to a grant provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the New Jersey Health Initiatives program to create hyper-local news to meet the informational and health needs of the City of Bridgeton, N.J.
