Currently, in New Jersey, vaccines are available to:

• Everyone 5 years of age and older
• If you have been fully vaccinated with a Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you may be eligible for a booster shot.

No one will have to pay for the COVID-19 vaccine itself. According to the CDC, all providers must vaccinate individuals regardless of their health insurance coverage and are prohibited from charging recipients.

• All private health care plans are required to provide coverage for the vaccine regardless of whether the provider is in or out of network.
• Anyone covered by Medicare, Medicaid, NJ FamilyCare, SHBP, SEHBP, or CHIP will be covered to receive the vaccine.
• If you do not have health insurance, you will be able to receive the vaccine free of charge from any provider participating in the Center for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 Vaccination Program.

More information on insurance and the vaccine can be found here.

COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use have gone through clinical trials involving tens of thousands of participants to determine their safety and efficacy. The known and potential benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the known and potential harms. To take extra precautions, after you receive the COVID-19 vaccine, you will be required to stay an additional 15 minutes for observation to monitor any potential side effects. Like many vaccines, a COVID-19 vaccine may cause some minor temporary discomfort. Some of these include a sore arm, tiredness, headache, muscle pains, chills, joint pain, fever, injection site swelling, redness, nausea, feeling unwell, and swollen lymph nodes. There is a small chance that vaccines will cause a severe allergic reaction, which is why you are required to stay for observation. It should also be noted that the COVID-19 vaccine will NOT give you COVID-19. None of the COVID-19 vaccines currently in development use the live virus that causes COVID-19.

Currently anyone ages 5 and up can receive the vaccine in NJ. If you are one of these people, you can register to receive the vaccine here or come visit one of our Urgent Care centers in Cliffside Park, Bergenfield, or North Bergen. New Jersey has developed an extensive network of vaccination sites to serve those who are currently able to get the vaccine. There are many places you can go to get vaccinated including acute care hospitals, large state-coordinated mega sites, county/local sites, retail pharmacies, and other medical locations. AM/PM is also providing vaccinations using Moderna and you can come in to receive your first, second, or booster at any of our locations.

COVID-19 vaccines help our bodies develop immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 without actually getting the illness. Unlike other vaccines which put a weakened or inactive germ into our bodies, mRNA vaccines, when injected, instruct the cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response. The immune response will produce antibodies that will protect our bodies from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies. This is the first time that mRNA vaccines have received an emergency use authorization, but researchers have been working with mRNA for decades. These vaccines can be developed in a laboratory using readily available materials, which can result in a quicker release of the vaccine as compared to other traditional types of vaccines. As soon as necessary information about coronavirus became available, scientists started working on the vaccine. For more information about the COVID-19 vaccination, and how the mRNA’s work, click here.

Pfizer and Moderna require individuals to get two shots in order to be fully effective, with an additional booster shot suggested 6 months after your second shot. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine consists of two doses 21 days apart, and the Moderna vaccine has two doses 28 days apart. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was approved for emergency use and requires only one dose to prevent Covid-19, although it is less effective than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.