Long lines seen outside Burlington County COVID-19 vaccine megasite
People hopeful to get the coronavirus vaccine lined up outside the megasite in Burlington County.
MOORESTOWN, N.J. - New Jersey residents hoping to get their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine were met with long lines before doors opened at a vaccine megasite in Burlington County on Wednesday morning.
Moorestown Mall serves as one of six vaccine megasites in New Jersey. It is currently only open to specific groups, such as healthcare workers, people 65 and older, and people over 16 with chronic health conditions.
FOX 29's Steve Keeley reports eligible people lined up outside the former Lord and Taylor before 9 a.m. despite having an appointment. They feared there wouldn't be enough doses of the vaccine to meet the demand.
The Moorestown location opened on Jan. 15 and is only serving eligible groups by appointment. The Burlington County website says it will not accept walk-ins or those without confirmed appointments.
Like many states, New Jersey's vaccine rollout has hit a few snags early on. Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday said his state has the infrastructure to increase its vaccination effort, but they are not receiving enough doses.
Murphy said the state has opened two-thirds of the mass vaccination sites across the state, with more set up at CVS and Walgreens under a federal partnership.
(FOX 5 NY illustration via Twitter screenshot and NIH photo)
Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said the state needs 470,000 vaccine doses per week to meet the demand. But the state is getting far less — about 100,000 — each week.
Murphy predicted that supply would be short "for some time," and didn't specify when or how it would increase. He said he is hopeful that the incoming administration of President Joe Biden would be able to increase the supply of the vaccines.
"As we continue to work expeditiously to distribute vaccines, the COVID-19 pandemic is still in full swing," Murphy said in a statement. "Continued access to necessary resources is important and critical as cases have continued to climb in New Jersey and across our nation."
___
For the latest local news, sports and weather, download the FOX 29 News app.
DOWNLOAD: FOX 29 NEWS APP
Sign up for emails from FOX 29, including our daily Good Day Digest newsletter