Bergen New Bridge To Receive 1,000 Doses Of Moderna Vaccine

PARAMUS, NJ — Bergen New Bridge Medical Center is expecting to receive 1,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine within the next week, County Executive Jim Tedesco announced Tuesday.

These vaccines will be administered to the county's category 1A healthcare workers who have yet to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, according to Tedesco.

Category 1A healthcare workers, according to the county, include "any paid or unpaid person working or volunteering in a 'healthcare setting' who may have direct or indirect contact with infectious persons or materials," according to the release.

The county expects to announce the registration process for those workers soon, but announced Tuesday that the vaccine distribution site will be located on the New Bridge campus.

For distribution, the county will utilize the Annex Alternative Care Facility, a temporary hospital constructed by the Army Corps of engineers with assistance from FEMA earlier this year. That facility was originally planned to house additional patients, but can now be used to administer over 300 vaccinations per day, the county said.

That number qualifies the site as one of the state's "large" Point of Dispensing locations, the county said. This comes after New Bridge had already qualified as one of the state's initial distribution points for the Moderna vaccine.

"It is essential that those on the frontlines in our fight against the virus receive the vaccine as fast as humanly possible," said Tedesco. "With the arrival of Moderna’s vaccine, we now have the ability to provide protection to more of Bergen County’s critical healthcare workforce through a partnership between the County and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center."

New Bridge received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine last week, and has already begun vaccinating staff, including President and CEO Deborah Visconi.

READ MORE: COVID Vaccine Marks A Special Anniversary At Bergen New Bridge

"We are proud to partner with our County Executive and the County of Bergen to provide a vaccination program for healthcare employees and, as vaccine distribution rolls out, to our communities," said Visconi. "Vaccination is a critical component to protecting our communities, particularly those that have been most impacted by COVID-19, while giving us a path out of this pandemic."

Recently, New Jersey announced it would open six vaccination "megasites" in January, including one in Bergen County at The Meadowlands.

The state announced 200 additional satellite sites which would include hospitals, federally qualified health care centers, urgent care centers and chain pharmacies in addition to others set up through local health departments.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said last week that 215 facilities have already signed up to be satellite vaccination sites, a number that is expected to grow.

READ MORE: Gov. Murphy: NJ Opening 6 COVID Vaccine 'Megasites:' Here's Where