TRENTON, NJ – A one-week mixup of COVID-19 vaccinations for assisted living facilities and state-run veterans homes has led to an additional 43 people being infected with COVID-19 this weekend. Those living and working in the ‘cheap seats’ as the governor called it last week were exposed to the virus.
According to Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, whose department failed to make a critical filing deadline, delaying vaccinations for 7 additional days at the state’s veteran homes, Vineland reports five new positive residents and 34 positive employees. They are reporting two COVID-confirmed deaths and one COVID-confirmed pending. Menlo Park reports three new staff and one resident, and Paramus reports no new cases.
This week, Murphy announced the rollout of the vaccine will begin at those facilities, one week later than anticipated due to the paperwork mixup.
“CVS has already coordinated and scheduled visits to 277 long-term care centers across the state over the next six weeks to provide roughly 80,000 vaccinations to residents and staff. By the end of this week, CVS will have visited 85 long-term care centers and provided more than 27,600 vaccinations. Judy and her team are currently working as well with Walgreens, our other pharmacy partner, to receive their full schedule. For the week, Walgreens is currently scheduled for 15 site visits and more than 4,100 vaccinations, and we’ll keep you updated on the progress as this program unfolds,” Murphy said.