COVID-19 vaccine

Montclair senior citizens who want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine but do not have their own transportation will be able to sign up for rides to county vaccine venues next week.

Montclair’s former deputy police chief Tracy Frazzano has been put on administrative leave from her position as chief of the Marco Island Police Department in Florida.

As of Jan. 13, a total of 264,681 vaccine doses had been administered, including 236,503 first doses and 28,045 second doses. The total is expected to go up “exponentially” over the next week, Murphy said. 

By ERIN ROLL roll@montclairlocal.news More than 1,000 health-care workers at Mountainside hospital in Montclair have received at least their first doses of coronavirus vaccine, about a month after they first became available. That still leaves about 700 staffers who haven’t. M...

Also: The state is dropping graduation assessment tests this year.

Firefighters and police officers, as frontline first responders, become eligible to for vaccination on Thursday, Jan. 7, as the state enters Phase 1B of its tiered plan. Paramedics were included in Phase 1A, and were already eligible for the vaccine. 

Before the month is out, state officials expect to open the rest of their sites, including one at the Racetrack at the Meadowlands, in East Rutherford. Healthcare workers may make an appointment at any of the mega-sites or satellite sites around the state.

Essex County has six facilities opening up. For Montclair residents, the vaccine is being offered at the former Kmart building on Prospect Avenue in West Orange. 

Interstate sports competitions are still prohibited, since interstate travel for sports has been deemed to be a risk factor for spreading COVID-19. And attendance is limited to those who are directly involved in the game – players, coaches, referees and support staff – and no more than 10 spectators. 

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said the state’s allotment of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines has decreased from 492,075 doses to 392,800: a decrease of 20 percent, or 99,275 vaccines.