PATERSON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – More than six million people in New Jersey are fully vaccinated. That includes people who work, study or live in the Garden State.
CBS2’s Leah Mishkin went to Paterson to see how the city is once again leading the way in getting people vaccinated.
The mayor of Paterson Andre Sayegh gave the room a thumbs up this morning after getting his COVID-19 booster shot.
“The best weapon is this vaccine,” Sayegh said.
With a new variant inching closer, he says now is the moment to redeploy and double down. The mayor has recruited a team he calls the “army of influencers.”
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“Our vaccination rate is 94 percent. That didn’t happen by accident. This team will make sure that within their sphere of influence, they encourage those that haven’t been vaccinated yet to go get it, and get the booster if you haven’t gotten a booster yet,” Sayegh said.
The Omicron team of 12 includes the president of the Dominican parade, deputy mayors of the city, and the rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
“It’s about trust, right? So you follow who you trust,” Sayegh said.
“So what we were able to do is register our parishioners and the people that live down these blocks,” said Rev. Msgr. Geno Sylva of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
There’s still tape on the floor in case the cathedral becomes a distribution center for the booster shot. He told Mishkin there was a line around the block in April when they were giving out the vaccine. They did about 500 doses a day.
“We were able to talk to them about their fears, their insecurities,” Sylva said.
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“Do you think it’s going to be more difficult to get people to get this booster versus getting the vaccine?” Mishkin asked.
“I don’t know. I think people are hearing a lot about it coming back, so I think people are concerned. I think we’ll be able to come back for it. I do,” Sylva said.
“We’ve had 600 deaths, 160,000 people living in eight square miles,” Sayegh said. “What we’re saying is the best defense is the vaccine. So if we’re at war, that’s our weapon. And we’re just going to continue to promote the boosters.”
“We know that there is uncertainty, but we can’t allow that uncertainty to keep us from protecting ourselves from an ambush,” said Deputy Mayor Janet McDaniels.
Sayegh says he doesn’t fear another shutdown because of the city’s proactive approach.
The third largest city in New Jersey has also turned an HIV mobile testing unit into a COVID-19 testing and vaccination unit to increase accessibility.
Leah Mishkin contributed to this report.
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