Newark Hospital Workers Get Second Dose Of COVID-19 Vaccine

NEWARK, NJ — It was “take two” for frontline health care workers at University Hospital in Newark.

With Gov. Phil Murphy in attendance, hospital workers who got a historic vaccination in December received their follow-up doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday. Several workers, including emergency room nurse Maritza Beniquez – the first person in New Jersey to get a COVID-19 vaccine – were given their second shot.

“I now have body armor,” Beniquez quipped.

The 56-year-old nurse said after her first shot, she had a slight headache, but nothing more. She expects the same for this go-around.

Beniquez, who is Hispanic, acknowledged the fears of taking vaccines, particularly in communities of color.

“I do not fault them,” she said. “I, too, am a Latina, and I, too, am a woman of color. And I understand and I feel that pain. Because these are my people that have suffered a lot of the injustices. So I understand their skepticism when it comes to medicine. But I want them to know that this is not that. And that the greatest injustice that we can do to ourselves as a Black and Latino or any sort of minority is to fall back on fears that are from the past and bring that to the future when there’s hope for tomorrow.”

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After Beniquez was administered her dose, Robert Johnson, dean of Rutgers Medical School, received his second shot of the vaccine.

The vaccinations took place at the University Hospital COVID-19 clinic at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Watch video footage below.

“Frontline health care workers have been integral to our fight against COVID-19,” Murphy tweeted. “Proud to be at University Hospital in Newark today as they received their second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.”

The first round of vaccines in New Jersey were dispensed in December to those in category 1A – mainly frontline health care workers with direct exposure to the virus. Since then, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed across the state and thousands of people have gotten their first shots.

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Shereef Elnahal, president and CEO of University Hospital, previously said that if health care workers embrace the vaccine, it will help to convince New Jersey residents to also vaccinate.

"Our health care heroes have been, and continue to be, trusted voices for health care in our community, and we hope that they will carry the message that these vaccines are safe and effective," Elnahal said. "Widespread vaccination is the most effective step to helping life return to a new normal, and we applaud those members of our workforce for being the first to roll up their sleeves."

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