By: Richard L. Smith
The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) announced today that the New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccine Call Center will cease operations on March 28, marking a significant shift towards routine, commercial access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Residents seeking information or assistance regarding COVID-19 vaccinations will now be directed to the national COVID-19 Vaccine Hotline at 1-800-232-0233, which offers support in English, Spanish, and other languages.
Additionally, deaf and hard of hearing individuals have access to TTY services at 1-888-720-7489, and persons with disabilities can reach out to the Disability Information and Access Line at 1-888-677-1199 for vaccination support.
Since its inception over three years ago, the New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccine Call Center has been instrumental in the state's pandemic response, scheduling more than 170,000 vaccination appointments, initiating nearly 40.9 million outreach calls, and sending over 300 million text messages.
Health Commissioner Dr. Kaitlan Baston praised the efforts of the Call Center staff, noting their crucial role in providing New Jerseyans with essential information on vaccine eligibility, vaccination locations, and other important programs during a critical period.
The Call Center has not only assisted residents in finding and making vaccination appointments but also played a key role in disseminating information about vaccination events, the Docket® app for digital vaccination records, and reminders for scheduled appointments.
It supported targeted outreach efforts aimed at vulnerable groups such as senior housing residents, home-delivered meals recipients, homebound residents, and childcare centers, and informed the public about free COVID-19 resources like HEPA filters for schools and testing kits.
Handling over 7.4 million inbound calls by the end of February 2024, the Call Center offered multilingual support, including services in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Creole, French, Bengali, and Swahili, and partnered with an interpretation company to accommodate additional languages.
As the state continues to advocate for all residents aged six months and older to stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations for the 2023–2024 respiratory virus season, information on vaccine eligibility and locations remains accessible through the CDC website, vaccines.gov, and the New Jersey community calendar at covid19.nj.gov/communitycalendar.
The closure of the New Jersey Call Center signifies a move towards normalizing the provision of COVID-19 vaccines through commercial avenues while maintaining support for the public's vaccination needs.