Booster Shots will be Available at Kmart and Essex County College

Appointments can be made at EssexCOVID.org or 973-877-8456

Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. announced that the CDC and FDA are recommending that residents with compromised immune systems receive a third dose, or booster shot, of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. The County Executive said that Essex County will administer the booster shots by appointment only beginning tomorrow, August 14th at its vaccination centers at Kmart in West Orange and Essex County College in Newark. According to the CDC and FDA, people are considered to have a compromised immune system if they are fighting a disease, undergoing medical treatments or have received an organ transplant. Appointments can be made at EssexCOVID.org or 973-877-8456.

“There have been reports that the CDC and FDA are going to approve booster shots for people who have received a COVID-19 vaccine. Getting vaccinated is the best choice we all can make to keep our families safe and prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, and we encourage everyone to get their shots,” DiVincenzo said. “Essex County has been administering vaccines since December 2020 and we are prepared to administer the booster shots. Just like our original vaccination process, we will administer booster shots by appointment only and we are committed to making getting a booster shot as easy and efficient as possible,” he added.

To accommodate the administration of the booster shots, the hours of operation at the Essex County Vaccination Centers at Kmart and Essex County College are being expanded to six days a week from Mondays to Saturdays. The centers will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Kmart is located at 235 Prospect Avenue in West Orange; Essex County College is located at 177 West Market Street in Newark.

Booster shots WILL NOT be available at the mobile clinics or pop-up sites organized by Essex County.

Essex County opened its vaccination centers on December 26, 2020, and was the first county in New Jersey to open a vaccination center. Since then, it has administered 184,910 first doses of Moderna, 181,402 second doses of Moderna, 7,217 first doses of Pfizer, 5,559 second doses of Pfizer and 15,903 doses of J&J vaccines.