Middletown Family Pharmacy/Bayshore Hold Teen Vaccine Clinics

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ — Bayshore Pharmacy and Middletown Family Pharmacy will hold two coronavirus vaccine clinics later this week specifically targeted to college-aged students.

Bayshore Pharmacy Card & Gift Shop of Atlantic Highlands and Middletown Family Pharmacy of Belford will host the clinics for all college students returning to campus this fall. Both locations will be giving out the shots on:

• 12-4 p.m. on Friday, July 16
• 12-4 p.m. on Saturday, July 17

They have the following vaccines available:

• COVID-19 Johnson & Johnson (one shot) vaccine - For ages 18 and up
• COVID-19 Moderna vaccine - For ages 18 and up
• Meningococcal meningitis ACYW - For ages 16 and up

They do not have the Pfizer vaccine in stock, which is the only coronavirus vaccine approved for those ages 12 and up.

All the vaccines are available without a doctor’s prescription.

The CDC has received increased reports of myocarditis and pericarditis (heart swelling and inflammation) in adolescents and young adults after COVID-19 vaccination. However, the CDC said it continues to recommend teens get the vaccine as "the known and potential benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the known and potential risks, including the possible risk of myocarditis or pericarditis. We continue to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for anyone 12 years of age and older."

"We are following the guidelines from the CDC to continue to vaccinate all our patients," said Middletown Family Pharmacy owner Richard Stryker. "College students should allow plenty of time to receive the COVID vaccines, especially if other vaccines are needed."

The CDC also warns that the Johnson & Johnson one shot carries a rare and small risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (28 cases of blood clots out of 8.7 million people who got the J&J vaccine as of May 12). Nearly all reports of this serious condition, which involves blood clots with low platelets, have been in adult women younger than 50 years old.

Also, just new this week is the FDA adding a warning to J&J's shot linking it to Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Many U.S. colleges and universities are requiring students get the coronavirus vaccine in order to return to campus this fall. In late March, Rutgers was the first American college to announce the vaccine requirement, and since then, many colleges have followed. There has been some pushback, such as when 400 Rutgers students and lawmakers, nearly all Republican, protested the vaccine mandate on the Rutgers campus in May.

Monmouth County Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso (R) and Monmouth Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (R) were at the protest, as was South Jersey state Senator Mike Testa (R-1).

"(My daughter) wants to be on campus for her last semester, and as her mother I don't believe it's fair to mandate a vaccine that seems unnecessary with all the therapeutics available," said Rutgers mom Alicia Gross. "I am very concerned about adverse health effects for her. Why the forceful mandate?"

Related: Hundreds Turn Up To Protest Rutgers' Vaccine Mandate For Students (May 21, 2021)

Rutgers Will Require COVID-19 Vaccines For All Students (March 25, 2021)

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