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SEA ISLE CITY – Due to concerns that some Sea Isle City residents do not have access to computers or may have been unsuccessful while registering for the Covid vaccine through the State of New Jersey’s registration phone number, Mayor Leonard Desiderio has asked the city’s Department of Community Services to create a “Vaccine Registration Assistance Program” that will help Sea Isle City residents through the online registration process.
According to a release, beginning Feb. 8, Sea Isle City residents in need of assistance during the vaccine registration process can phone the city’s Welcome Center Tourism Office on weekday mornings and speak with a tourism assistant, who will complete the online registration process for them over the phone while using a city computer.
Residents utilizing this program will be asked to give the city’s tourism assistant required information for the online registration process, including their name, address, phone number, date of birth, gender, current employment status, existing medical issues (asthmas, cancer, etc.) and other general information that is required when registering for the Covid vaccine on the State of New Jersey’s website.
No financial or specific insurance information will be required, and residents will not be asked to give their Social Security number in the registration process. All information given to the Sea Isle City Tourism Office during the registration process will be entered directly into the State of New Jersey’s vaccine registration website and will not be kept on file by the city. The Tourism Office will only keep the resident’s contact information on file.
If the resident using this vaccine registration program does not have a personal email address, the tourism assistant will input a city email address into the state website during the registration process. Then, the state will use the city email address to confirm the individual’s registration and also to schedule an appointment to receive the vaccine at a later date. The tourism assistant will relay any information received from the state via the city email address to that resident via telephone.
“We want to make perfectly clear that Sea Isle City residents who use our vaccine registration assistance program will not be fast-tracked ahead of others who are already registered for the vaccine – this program simply helps complete the registration process for those in need of assistance or who may not have access to a computer,” stated Desiderio.
“We all must be patient throughout the vaccination process because it may take several weeks – or longer – before you are given a vaccination date,” added the Mayor. “This can be a lengthy procedure; however, our public health officials are doing all they can to get the Covid-19 vaccine distributed as quickly as possible and to bring this pandemic to an end.”
Starting Feb. 8, Sea Isle City residents needing assistance to register for the Covid vaccine can phone the Sea Isle City Welcome Center Tourism Office, at 609-263-8687 ext. 105, Monday-Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to noon. If asked to leave a voice message, please give your name and phone number, and your call will be returned in the order is was received.
“To help spread the word about this program to Sea Isle City residents who need assistance with the online vaccine registration process, we ask that anyone who has an older neighbor or who knows someone in Sea Isle City who does not have a computer to please phone that person and make them aware of our vaccine registration assistance program,” stated Desiderio. “We don’t want anyone to be left out from the vaccination process.”
