Once Lagging, Camden Hits COVID-19 Vaccination Benchmark

CAMDEN COUNTY, NJ — At the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, Camden City was among the hardest-hit communities. When the vaccine became widely-available, the city was among 10 New Jersey towns that lagged behind the others.

But on Thursday, Camden City reached a benchmark of 70 percent of all adults with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, county officials announced. This was an increase of 20 percentage points since the middle of July, and was accomplished through a combined effort and partnership with public and private health care providers, officials said in a statement.

“We’ve been working nonstop to elevate the vaccination level throughout the city and using any means possible, even having a vaccine parade,” Camden County Commissioner Jon Young said. “There is only one way for us to get to a post-pandemic world, and that is by administering the vaccine to the public and inoculating as many people as possible. Make no mistake, this is just the beginning because we still have miles to go before we have accomplished our mission.”

The efforts continue to ramp up, as the county is adding three more vaccination sites in the city. Free Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be offered, along with third doses as long as residents have a proof of vaccination. Free Uber rides are also being offered to each site:

• Kroc Center - 1865 Harrison Ave, Camden
• Every Thursday – 2 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
• Camcare - 2610 Federal Street, Camden
• Every Monday - Thursday – 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
• Cousins Supermarket - 200 Marlton Pike, Camden
• 10/22, 11/11, 11/12, 11/19, 12/17 -- 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

The Board of Commissioners is offering these vaccinations in partnership with the state Department of Health, Cooper University Health Care, CAMcare, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Rutgers University School of Nursing, and the Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers.

For a full schedule of COVID Vaccination pop-ups visit:
www.CamdenCounty.com/service/pop-up-vaccination-schedule.

“Every resident in the county should have the access and opportunity to this vital vaccine that is the best tool we have in fighting against COVID-19,” Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli, Jr. said. “The numbers attached to new members of our community getting vaccinated is encouraging, but we still have a work to do. These three sites in the city will make it even easier to take your shot. If you haven’t gotten vaccinated, please make an appointment today.”

“On August 3rd, I began pushing for a 70% vaccination rate for all eligible residents,” Camden City Mayor Vic Carstarphen said. “It is critical that we (as government), bring the vaccine and services to the community and meet residents where they are. The City of Camden, Camden County and all of our partners, have been knocking on doors in the community to encourage residents to get vaccinated. It is proven that the vaccine is safe and effective. Now it’s important that we present these facts to the community and disprove any and all myths. Our key message is get vaccinated because it saves lives. Do it for yourself, your kids, neighbors, co-workers, family, and all those who are most vulnerable within the community.”

As of Thursday, 365,309 Camden County residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 311,166 are fully vaccinated and 25,763 have received a third dose. More information regarding vaccination rates throughout the county is available on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard at covid19.nj.gov.

“Seventy percent is a wonderful accomplishment, but it is still not as high as it could be,” Assistant Public Health Coordinator Caryelle Lasher said, acknowledging the high number of cases the city is still seeing.

She did say that Camden has the largest population in the county, and once that is accounted for, the difference in number of cases between Camden and the next municipality is not that big.

“There is an increase in certain neighborhoods, and a lot of that could be related to what we saw in the beginning of the pandemic, related to multi-generation housing,” Lasher said during a news conference Thursday afternoon. “Our city is home to a lot of front-line and healthcare workers, which are in increased positions of exposure.”

She also said baseline health is critical, and that is being addressed with educational initiatives and increasing healthcare access.

“The county’s information campaign in the city has been aggressive and quite successful,” Camden County Deputy Director Ed McDonnell said. “To say that we’re approaching 75 percent vaccination status in Camden County overall and 70 percent in Camden is far better than it was only a couple of months ago.”

The county is also preparing to make the vaccine available to children ages 5 to 11 years old should that expansion be approved by the federal government.

“We’re going to aggressively meet that challenge and increase our goals to get that population vaccinated,” Lasher said, noting that they would make specific hours available to school-aged children to get vaccinated.

The health department has been meeting with local school district superintendents on the best way to get children vaccinated. There have been about 2,000 cases of the coronavirus in Camden County schools since September, but less than 60 have been the result of in-school transmission, Lasher said.

As of Thursday, there have been 59,080 coronavirus cases and 1,305 coronavirus-related deaths in Camden County since the pandemic began in March 2020. The county is averaging 102 new cases a day over the last seven days, and the test positivity rate is up to 5.3 percent, Cappelli said.

The Camden County Health Department is continuing to closely track new cases of COVID-19 and information regarding the prevalence of the Delta variant. New cases are often reassigned to other municipalities over the course of an investigation.