Schools
Monmouth County Opens Kids' COVID Vaccine Clinics In Schools
There was a children's vaccine clinic Tuesday at Swimming River Elementary in Tinton Falls, and another Thursday at Ocean Twp. High School.
MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Starting this week and into next week, Monmouth County will host a series of clinics to get the kids' COVID vaccine inside local schools.
While the idea is controversial to some, the NJ Department of Health previously said it would encourage in-school vaccine clinics, but that no school or district would be forced to offer the shots.
It is up to each individual school district to decide if they want to open a vaccine clinic in their schools.
Find out what's happening in Middletownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
On Tuesday of this week, the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for children was offered at Swimming River Elementary School in Tinton Falls. That clinic ran from 3-6 p.m.
There will be a children's COVID vaccine clinic from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Ocean Township High School in Oakhurst and on Saturday morning there will be a children's vaccine clinic at Markham Place Middle School in Little Silver.
Find out what's happening in Middletownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Parents are not rushing to have their children vaccinated as fast as Gov. Phil Murphy and health officials would like: As of last week, 10,200, or about 1 percent of the 760,000 children in the 5-11 age group got the shot. Murphy said he may drop the K-12 school mask mandate if enough children get vaccinated and cases remain low after the holidays.
Booster shot uptake is also under Murphy's goals: About 24 percent of those eligible to get a booster have actually gotten one, according to the latest Department of Health data as of Monday.
Murphy said this week he may open booster shot availability to all, and not just those who are 65+ or work in high-risk settings.
California and Colorado have made booster shots available to anyone who wants one. Just this week, New York City said it is also opening booster shots to all.
"You've seen what California is — the direction they're headed, Colorado, New York City. I think you can assume that's a direction we're going to be headed," said Gov. Murphy at his press conference Monday.
Learn more about all the clinics and how to sign up here, in this flier provided by the Middletown school district: https://www.middletownk12.org/...
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