(Gloucester Township, NJ) – With COVID-19 cases rising across the country, the Board of County Commissioners is continuing to work with Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen to increase the City of Camden’s vaccination rate.
As outlined in his “Camden Strong: People Empowered Our Focus During the First 100 Days and Beyond” plan, Mayor Carstarphen stressed the importance of increasing vaccination access for all Camden residents. More than ten thousand residents in Camden have been infected with the COVID-19 virus, double that of any other municipality in Camden County. Camden has also lost 178 residents to COVID-19. While 56% of Camden residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the Mayor and Commissioners are committed to increasing that number to at least 70 percent of eligible residents.
“We are seeing how explosive this virus can still be when our vaccination rates don’t hit the targets that we need them to,” said Commissioner Al Dyer. “The Commissioners are continuing to work with the city and other partners to raise awareness, decreases hesitancy, and increase accessibility for vaccinations. The only way out of this pandemic is to get everyone vaccinated so that COVID-19 can’t continue to spread and mutate. To get to that point, we need everyone to speak to their family and friends, talk to the people in their community, and share the same message. These vaccines are safe and effective, and everyone needs to get one before this pandemic truly surges again.”
Carstarphen also talked about the need to get city residents vaccinated.
“We must focus on increasing the number of people who receive vaccinations because it will simply help Camden and our nation come out of this pandemic faster and keep our residents safe from exposure to variants,” said Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen, “Far too many within our community are at risk and my new goal for the City of Camden is for 70 percent of eligible residents to be vaccinated. Once our community reaches 70 percent that means real progress is being made. We all want to return to school, get back to work, spend time with family and move forward with a more normal way of life. The City will be working with our partners and the Camden County Health Officer to provide additional information to the public, continue to offer pop-up vaccination sites throughout the community and bring services to our neighborhoods and directly to those who have not yet been vaccinated. I can assure you, I will be in our neighborhoods knocking on doors, and encouraging residents to get vaccinated.”
Many residents have expressed willingness to get the vaccine as concern grows over the COVID-19 Delta variant. Public Health Officials say they’ll begin a new push to encourage more adults and young people to get the vaccine. With school approaching, vaccinations among children ages 12-17 are particularly low.
“Getting at least one dose into 70 percent of the eligible residents in Camden will be critical to maintaining the public health of the community as we endure the Delta variant wave of infections coming into the city and county,” Camden County Health Officer Paschal Nwako said. “Now more than ever we need to double down in our efforts to reach every home in the city – street by street, and block by block – to ensure residents have the proper access and opportunity to get vaccinated. This will be a citywide effort with our partners in the Mayor’s Office, all of the health care providers in the city including our local pharmacies and all of our public health advocates in Camden. I know, with this new push, going house to house in specific zip codes we can reach the Mayor’s goal.”
For updates on the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination locations, please visit Camden County at camdencounty.com and the City of Camden at ci.camden.nj.us