Hudson County Expands Vaccination Program with FEMA Site in Jersey City, Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Distribution in North Hudson

Cooperative Effort Between County of Hudson, Municipalities Ramping Up With More Doses Now Arriving from State of NJ

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Hudson County’s COVID-19 vaccination program will significantly expand its scope in the coming weeks as additional doses are made available from the State of New Jersey, allowing County Executive Tom DeGise’s Vaccine Distribution Task Force to inoculate more residents than ever before. The new programs will build on the success of the county’s Vaccine Distribution Center in Kearny, which has now given out nearly 20,000 doses, as well as municipal sites in Jersey City, North Bergen, Union City, Bayonne and other communities that have collectively administered thousands of additional doses.

“As we have said for weeks, Hudson County has succeeded in building out our vaccine distribution capacity but we need more doses to ramp up our program to the level required to make sure our residents are safe,” said County Executive DeGise. “While we still need more vaccine supply, these latest developments will allow our county site and our municipal partners to expand our operations and give more of our residents these critical, life saving vaccines.”

In partnership with Governor Phil Murphy and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, the county is helping to launch a new FEMA backed community vaccine distribution program in Jersey City next week that will operate out of local churches in the Bergen/Lafayette and Heights sections of the city. The program will begin on March 8 and will provide 3,000 first and second doses that will be targeted at underserved communities within Jersey City.

“Jersey City’s vaccination program is expanding week by week with our second distribution site recently opening at Ferris High School, and this new FEMA site will be a great help in scaling our distribution up further,” said Mayor Fulop. “I would like to thank Governor Murphy and County Executive DeGise for their continuing assistance in protecting Jersey City residents.”

Hudson County has received 1,500 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine to be distributed this week after it was recently granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. With the opening of the new FEMA site in Jersey City, a majority of those doses will be allocated to North Hudson to continue efforts in vaccinating the hardest to reach communities in Hudson County.

This week, the county-run vaccination center is prioritizing residents over the age of 75. Additionally, Palisades Medical Center has received 1,100 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to help vaccinate any Hudson County resident who is 75 years or older. The County has already notified each town’s Health Officer of this vaccination opportunity and Palisades Medical Center has already been in contact with North Bergen and West New York. Other towns are currently working to assist their senior residents with scheduling an appointment to be vaccinated at the hospital. Hudson County has also shared a list of 2,600 seniors over 75 with the hospital who have registered online to be vaccinated but have not yet received a vaccine.

About the Hudson County Vaccine Distribution Center: The Hudson County Vaccine Distribution Center is operated by Hudson Regional Health Commission and overseen by County Executive Tom DeGise’s Vaccine Task Force, which includes representatives from the Hudson County Improvement Authority, the Hudson County Office of Emergency Management, County Department of Roads and Public Property, the Hudson County Schools of Technology and the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office. The center is located at the USS Juneau Center at 110 Hackensack in Kearny. Eligible individuals can make an appointment online by visiting hudsoncovidvax.org.

####