COVID In New Jersey: Residents Become Emotional After Getting COVID-19 Vaccine At Moorestown Mall Mega-Site
MOORESTOWN, N.J. (CBS) -- New Jersey took a major step Friday in the fight against the coronavirus by opening several vaccine mega-sites. One of the six vaccine mega-sites in the Garden State is at the Moorestown Mall in Burlington County.
Eyewitness News found some people becoming emotional after getting that shot in their arms.
"I'm gonna start crying. I can't say how relieved I am," Kathey Benefield said.
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Benefield traveled from her home in Pitman, Gloucester County, to the Moorestown Mall to get her first dose of the COVID vaccine she's been anxiously waiting to get for months.
"The line was long but it moved really fast. It is so well organized inside," Benefield said.
Of the state's six vaccine mega-sites that opened Friday in the Garden State, three are in South Jersey.
They're at the Moorestown Mall in Burlington County, as well as the Atlantic City Convention Center and Rowan College of South Jersey in Gloucester County.
Eventually, each of the sites will be able to vaccinate a few thousand people a day. But for now, the sites only are giving away a fraction of that because of a limited number of doses.
"Today, we are scheduled to do roughly about 500 vaccines. We could do five times that many if we only had the supply," Virtua Health President Dennis Pullin said.
"We still don't have the supply from the feds that we need," Gov. Phil Murphy said.
Still, Murphy says he expects the feds to increase the supply as production ramps up.
"So, that's the big fight we have right now. In the meantime, folks have to do the basic stuff -- social distance, wear the face masks, wash hands with soap and water," Murphy said.
For now, New Jersey's vaccine mega-sites are only offering doses to health care workers, first responders people over the age of 65, smokers, and those with chronic health conditions.
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