“Give us the tools and we will finish the job”

Winston Churchill

The aforementioned quote was the iconic British Prime Minister’s plea to the Americans before they entered World War II.  As a new American President enters the White House, in Paterson we would like to paraphrase that famous quote by stating, “Give us the vaccine and we will finish the job.”

We started our vaccination operation on December 28 and since that time we have inoculated nearly 4000 people. That total includes not only Patersonians but residents from around state in multiple counties and people have traveled as far as Ocean City. Paterson is meeting the moment.

Due to the incredibly high demand and our ability to vaccinate, we requested 7000 additional doses for this week and unfortunately, we only received 2000. Consequently, we had to curtail our ambitious vaccination schedule from 6 days to 3 days. Therefore, 2 days of those will be open to everyone who is eligible and one day will be dedicated exclusively to Paterson residents.

We also received word this week that we will be getting far less of the vaccine next week. Our supply will be truncated to 700 which will force us to reduce our robust operation even further. At this juncture, we need to scale up not scale down.

President Joe Biden officially assumed office this Wednesday and that should provide us with increased optimism. Besides restoring integrity, stability, and credibility to the White House, he will also make ending this pandemic a priority.

President Biden will rely on science and data in his decision-making. He will defer to the experts and act according to their guidance. His $20 billion vaccination program should augment public confidence in the federal government’s response to the current crisis.

I applaud President Biden for his intent to use the Defense Production Act to expedite vaccine distribution and I support his bold goal of administering vaccines to 100 million people in 100 days. We have been a case study for contact tracing and now Paterson is poised to play a big part in achieving the President’s inoculation objective.

COVID-19 is claiming nearly 4,000 American lives every day. Therefore, President Biden’s aggressive plan must be executed with urgency and efficiency.

At our Point of Dispensing last week, we inoculated a 98-year-old man who said, “I just want to live.” He was right. This is a matter of life and death and we can’t afford to lose any more lives.

President Biden’s serious approach to the virus should serve as a dose of hope but what is really needed are more doses of the vaccine. Therefore, in Churhcillian fashion, if you give us the vaccine, we will finish the job.