By Marion Filler
More than 100,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered so far in Morris County, with nearly one third of the inoculations occurring at the regional “mega-site” in Rockaway Township, officials announced this week.
That’s small solace to frustrated seniors, who say the rollout in Morris County has turned into a scavenger hunt, replete with mind-numbing web searches, interminable waits on hotlines, and even longer waits for callbacks.
“You’re on the list!” is the standard email message to those registered with the state. Inevitably, website and phone recordings deliver the bad news that nothing is available.
“I’m trying to maintain a positive spirit, but today it really got me down,” Cordelia Manning, 80, of Madison, said Wednesday after getting nowhere trying to find an appointment.
About three weeks ago, friends mentioned they had success signing up at Atlantic Health at 495 South St. in Morristown, where excess vaccine was being distributed on a first-come-first-serve basis.
“I tried it seven days in a row, I tried it early in the morning, I tried it late in the afternoon, I did everything,” Manning said. Her most recent attempt was on Monday, when she was told they were not longer keeping a sign-up list because it was “too complicated.”
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Bonnie Gardner, a Morris Township resident in her 80s, was planning to go all the way to Philadelphia, where her son was able to get her an appointment.
“I’ve never been contacted by anybody and I’ve signed up with everyone I know,” said Gardner. Then, a friend cancelled his appointment at the Secaucus mega-site, and was able to transfer it to her.
Gardner said she has elderly friends with second homes in Vermont who are desperate enough to make that trip, hoping they might be eligible there before finding a slot in New Jersey.
CBS radio: Lines start early for spots on Morris waiting list, Feb. 16, 2021:
Betsy D., a Morris Township senior who did not wish to use her full name, decided to take matters into her own hands. After registering on several sites and calling Morristown’s Zufall Health Center many times to no avail, she tried the Shop Rite site–repeatedly–only to be told it had no vaccine available and stores not taking sign-ups.
Able bodied and full of spunk, she went in person to the Shop-Rite of Greater Morristown pharmacy.
“If you ever have extra doses at the end of the day, would you put me on the list?” she asked. “They told me it was a long list, but I said I didn’t care. Just put me on it.” Her persistence paid off and she is going for her second shot in a few days.
Acknowledging these frustrations, county officials cite a shortage of vaccines.
In a statement, Morris County Commissioner Douglas Cabana said “there are many, many more people we need to reach, and the only way to do that is for New Jersey to get much more vaccine than it currently receives. Our ability to vaccinate people is directly linked to the vaccine supply.”
New Jersey has been receiving about 130,000 doses per week from the federal government. So far, just over one million of the state’s nine million residents have received at least one dose of the two-shot vaccination. Registration now is open to smokers and everyone over 65.
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Manning said she learned friends in Essex County already received their second shots. So did people she knows in Colorado and South Carolina. Manning is beginning to wonder what is going on.
“It seems like it’s particularly bad in New Jersey and particularly bad in Morris County. If you even look at the number of sites, we don’t have a lot of choices.”
In fact, Morris County has among the fewest number of sites per capita in the State. As of Wednesday, there are only eight sites to serve a population of 493,397.
By comparison, Somerset County, population of 329,838, has 10 sites. Hunterdon, with just 124,823 residents, has 11 sites. Cumberland county (151,906 residents) has the same as Morris. Gloucester County (population 291,265) actually has 17 sites, more than double that of Morris County.
Even with more vaccine, a scarcity of access points may make it harder to get an appointment. Atlantic Health’s site had that problem a few weeks ago when it crashed, and it became impossible to register. It still is.
Rite Aid and Shop Rite have recordings on their phones and neither are scheduling callers. As supplies are stretched thin, some counties are excluding non-residents. Seniors without computers or technical savvy are relying on friends and family to chase elusive appointments.
“Everyone I know who’s getting a shot, their children and grandchildren are getting it for them,” said Sally Epstein, 84 of Morris Township.
Epstein said she was tired of hearing, “You’re on the list!”
“I went to Rite Aid because they’re my pharmacy and asked what I should do,” she said. She was told the Rite Aid website would allow her to sign up for an appointment.
But “there was no place on any of the Rite Aid sites to sign up. At least the Shop Rite site says they are out of vaccine. But you go to other sites that ‘say make an appointment’ and there’s no such thing,” Epstein said.
According to Morris County Commissioner John Krickus, Morris County has the state’s second-highest vaccination rate, after Gloucester.
Now open seven days a week, the Morris County Vaccination Center at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall, is delivering about 1,700 doses each day, reports the county. (The center will be closed on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, because heavy snow is in the forecast.)
Officials hope that increased supplies eventually will enable 2,500 people per day to receive vaccinations at the center, which is a partnership of the county, state, and the Atlantic Health System.
“The more than 17,000 team members, physicians, nurses and other caregivers at Atlantic Health System are committed to ensuring that the opportunity to be vaccinated is available to everyone who wants it, and we look forward to a more robust supply of vaccine to make that happen,” said Kevin Lenahan, Atlantic Health’s chief financial and administrative officer, in a statement.
Epstein is anxious to get the vaccine–but she won’t consider traveling out of state to get it.
“I live in Morris county, and it should be available here,” she said.
I WAS impressed by Murphy’s handling of the pandemic, but no more. Morris County is getting the shaft. My friends in Essex County have gotten shots, as has family in AZ and CA. The lists aren’t worth the paper they aren’t written on. I hope the Republicans nominate a good alternative to Murphy. He deserves to be booted out with his poor management of the vaccine.
I had to go to Trenton for my shot. It’s impossible to get into the Rockaway site.