A lot has changed since my first article! With eligibility criteria set to expand on April 19 to include all adults 16 and up, I want to add some notes and encourage anyone trying to book an appointment to check the online handbook www.bit.ly/vaxbookbcnj  as it will always have the most current information.

In general, as vaccine availability increases, more appointments become available at each drop, so it isn’t a lightning race to the finish. While I still recommend signing up for Twitter alerts, if you do not want Twitter, you can check https://www.vaccinebotnj.com/whats-available for vaccine appointment availability throughout the day, check CVS at midnight, check essexcovid.org starting at 8 a.m. daily for those who work and/or live in Essex County, and register for the Hackensack Meridian rolling waitlist at https://hmh.vaccine.mychart.com/. With Hackensack Meridian, when you get your link to schedule, you can choose any of their 11 New Jersey locations that have available appointment times. The Meadowlands and Newark sites administer Pfizer to 16 and up. In addition, the vaccine is now available at more locations, such as Acme, Costco, Sam’s Club, Valley Health in Ridgewood, Walmart and Wegmans. (See the online handbook for direct links and more details for each site.)

For 16-17 year olds, I recommend these vaccination sites: Hackensack Meridian at the Meadowlands, CVS Pfizer locations (including Englewood, River Edge, Teaneck, Ramsey, East Rutherford, but this changes so check before you book), Valley Health in Paramus, ShopRite Pfizer locations (Lincoln Park is one), Walgreens Pfizer locations (Teaneck, Bogota, Elmwood Park, Bergenfield, Fort Lee), Walmart Pfizer locations, St Joseph’s Hospital locations (Paterson and Wayne).