Hoboken Hospital ER Head Gets, And Discusses, Coronavirus Vaccine
HOBOKEN, NJ — Officials at Hoboken University Medical Center provided the first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers at the hospital on Tuesday morning.
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, including the Moderna vaccine, are a new type of vaccine that doesn't include the weakened virus, but rather, teaches human cells to make a protein that triggers the immune response (read more about that here).
Dr. John Rimmer, director of the hospital's emergency department and a Hoboken resident, along with Dinorah Vargas, an ICU employee, were among the first to receive the hospital’s vaccines Tuesday.
"While any new health care treatment should be scrutinized and evaluated closely," said Rimmer, "the first studies on this vaccine were robust and very encouraging. I will be telling my family to get the vaccine and encourage yours to as well.”
As of Tuesday night, more than 320,000 Americans had died from coronavirus. (See which states are seeing the highest death tolls on this CDC map.)
When can residents get vaccinated?
HUMC has received an initial 100 vaccines which will be administered to their employees during the first phase of vaccine distribution.
Other Hudson County hospitals were able to give vaccines to some of their workers this week, including in Secaucus, Jersey City, and Bayonne.
The county of Hudson expected to open a vaccination center on Wednesday in Kearny. It will first offer the vaccines to health care workers not already receiving vaccines through a hospital, as well as funeral home workers and lab workers who could be exposed.
Next year, these countywide centers will vaccinate area residents.
“We reached an important milestone today, and a major step forward in overcoming COVID-19 in Hoboken,” said Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla. “Our courageous health care workers getting vaccinated demonstrates that there is in fact light at the end of the tunnel, and better days ahead for our city. Once the vaccine becomes available to the public, I encourage everyone to get one. It’s safe, effective, and will protect our community and front line heroes, like Dr. Rimmer and Ms. Vargas.”
The city of Hoboken is currently coordinating with Hudson County and the State of New Jersey to establish vaccination sites in Hoboken in partnership with select medical providers, for various phases of distribution.
Rimmer said, “It literally teaches and strengthens your immune system to make antibody against the virus, without the risk of being exposed to the actual virus. These antibodies will then seek and destroy the virus before it has the chance to replicate itself."
“Today is an historic day for the city of Hoboken and the front-line healthcare workers of Hoboken University Medical Center,” said Ann Logan, chief hospital executive of Hoboken University Medical Center. “The desperately needed COVID-19 vaccine is being deployed aswe speak and, as such, the process of recovering from this terrible disease has begun."
To read about recent Hoboken coronavirus statistics and trends, and where to get tested locally, click here.
Got Hoboken news or questions? Email caren.lissner@patch.com.
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This article originally appeared on the Hoboken Patch
