COVID Vaccinations For New Jersey Health Care Workers To Begin Tuesday

NEW JERSEY (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The first COVID vaccines in New Jersey will be administered to health care workers in Newark on Tuesday, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Sunday.

In anticipation of vaccine shipments, University Hospital set up a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School adjacent to the hospital.

MORE: COVID-19 Vaccine: Tri-State Area Hospitals Expect First Shipments To Arrive As Soon As Monday

Gov. Murphy and other top health officials will visit the clinic when the first doses are administered. According to the governor's office, the clinic is equipped to provide at least 600 vaccinations daily.

MORE: COVID In Tri-State Area: New Jersey Sets Record For Highest Daily Case Count; NYC Positivity Rate Climbs Over 6%

Murphy said most of the 76,000 doses in the first batch of the Pfizer vaccine will go the health care workers, as well as residents and staff at long-term care facilities.

"The first batch is 76,000. Split the majority toward healthcare workers, but a good slug toward our long-term care residents and staff. And then with each ensuing week, those are the two top priorities and it'll take us a number of weeks, as you can image, to work through the entire populations in both of those groups," Murphy said.

The governor said he believes everyone in the state will have access to a vaccine by April or May.

In the meantime, Murphy is urging people to continue efforts to stop the spread, especially by limiting holiday celebrations to immediate family members. Sixty to 80 percent of coronavirus transmission is linked to private settings.

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New Jersey's rolling weekly average of COVID cases has been on a steady uptick. The state, like the rest of the country, is seeing daily case counts reach above the highest levels in the spring.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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• New Jersey
• COVID-19 Vaccine
• COVID-19
• Phil Murphy
• Newark
• Vaccines