“When you saw the line of people at the door, it was absolutely amazing how much somebody wanted this vaccine,” said Ray Welsh, a Paramus resident who was among the first 100 clients at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center to get vaccinated Friday. Welsh, an advocate for people with HIV-AIDS, said he felt lucky to book a slot, because the vaccine’s in very short supply. New Jersey got just 2,800 doses in its first shipment from the federal government.
Case numbers jumped to 155 in New Jersey on Monday, up from 109 last week. Anyone can contract the virus, though cases so far predominate among men who are gay and bisexual.
“The problem we’re facing now is, this is not a sexual disease. This is a disease spread by touch, by human contact. In all likelihood, the strategy of focusing on just gay and bisexual men because the (vaccine) supply was limited is going to lead to a situation where it spreads more widely into the population,” said Perry Halkitis, dean of the School of Public Health at Rutgers University. New Jersey is expected to get a second, 2,700-dose shipment of the vaccine. Gov. Phil Murphy says the state needs more because of its proximity to New York City, the epicenter of the nation’s monkeypox outbreak.
