NEW JERSEY (WABC) The first COVID-19 vaccinations are being given in New Jersey Tuesday, with the first recipient a nurse who got the shot at University Hospital in Newark.
Maritza Beniquez has had a front-row seat to the devastation the coronavirus pandemic has wrought on communities of color in New Jersey, so the 56-year-old ER nurse jumped at the chance to take the vaccine that is being hailed as a potential turning point in a long and grueling battle against the deadly virus. I m happy that in another month and a half, I won t have to be afraid to go into a room anymore, she said. I won t have to be afraid to perform chest compressions or be present when they re intubating a patient. I don t want to be afraid anymore, and I don t want to have that risk of taking it home to my own family and my own friends.
Mass. World War II veteran gets COVID-19 vaccine; first VA patient in country
Katie Lannan and Michael P. Norton
State House News Service
BEDFORD As the first COVID-19 vaccines began arriving in Massachusetts on Monday, a 96-year-old World War II veteran in Bedford became the first VA patient in the country to get the shot.
The VA Bedford Healthcare system announced the milestone over social media, posting that Margaret Klessens, a resident of the Community Living Center in the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital received the shot at 12:07 p.m.
Andrew Miller, a housekeeper in environmental management service, was the first VA Bedford employee to get the vaccine, at 12:20 p.m.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., tells ‘Fox & Friends’ people still need to ‘be careful’ as vaccine distribution gets underway.
Additional states marked public health milestones on Tuesday after the first coronavirus vaccinations were administered to front-line health care workers.
The first Pfizer jab in New Jersey went to a nurse, Maritza Beniquez, who works in the emergency department at University Hospital in Newark. It was also her birthday.
“I couldn’t wait for this moment,” Beniquez said shortly after her vaccination, per NJ.com.
N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy and his wife, among others, were on site at University Hospital Tuesday morning to observe the first vaccinations in the state.
N.J. hospitals aren’t slammed, even with record COVID-19 cases. But the second wave’s peak is coming.
Updated Dec 14, 2020;
Posted Dec 14, 2020
Mustafa Ugur from Medical Home Pharmacy in Trenton administering a COVID-19 test to Robin Watkins, right.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday said a total of 3,635 people are currently fighting COVID-19 in New Jersey hospitals, the highest number of such patients since mid-May.
Coronavirus patients hospitalized in the state have more than doubled in the past month, and on Saturday, New Jersey set another record for new COVID-19 daily cases. Five days in the past week saw more new cases reported than at any point during the spring, though improved testing means a higher percentage of cases are now being detected.
VIRUS TODAY: Vaccinations expand; 2nd vaccine nears approval
by The Associated Press
Last Updated Dec 15, 2020 at 3:58 pm EDT
Seattle Fire Dept. paramedic Alan Goto, right, receives one of the first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccinations by registered nurse Allison Miller at UW Medicine, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.:
THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY Hundreds more hospitals around the country began dispensing COVID-19 shots to their workers in a rapid expansion of the U.S. vaccination drive Tuesday, while a second vaccine moved to the cusp of government authorization.