New Brunswick Hospitals Give Out First Vaccine Shots

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The coronavirus vaccine is now at both Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center and Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick's Catholic hospital.

Staff at Saint Peter's began administering the Moderna vaccine Tuesday. At Saint Peter's, the first round of vaccinations will be given to hospital staff and physicians who have the highest levels of patient interaction, and those specifically caring for COVID-19 patients.

But eventually, all employees and physicians who are interested in receiving the vaccine will have an opportunity to be vaccinated.

The speed at which the United States is distributing the vaccine to the American public is unprecedented. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved the Moderna vaccine just three days earlier, on Friday.

So far, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are the first two to be approved by the FDA.

"We are fortunate to be one of the first recipients of the Moderna vaccine, one which has been shown to be 94 percent effective in preventing COVID-19," said Leslie Hirsch, president of Saint Peter's Healthcare System.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had trials that used at least 30,000 volunteers and they both require two shots.

Johnson & Johnson is in the third and final phase of its vaccine trial, with 45,000 participants. Johnson & Johnson, headquartered in New Brunswick, said they expect they will know their vaccine's efficacy by the end of January.