Emergency Department nurse becomes first to receive COVID vaccine in N.J.

Newark, N.J. – For nine months, Maritza Beniquez, an Emergency Department nurse at University Hospital, has risked her life on the front lines of our fight against COVID-19.

This morning, she became the first person in New Jersey to get vaccinated.

New Jersey has had 4,111 new positive cases, 97 new confirmed deaths, and the highest daily death count within the last six months.

The vaccine rollout started Tuesday morning at University Hospital in Newark, one of New Jersey’s hardest hit areas.

NJ ER Nurse Maritza Beniquez

Beniquez, who also celebrated her 56th birthday today, said the burden of feeling afraid feels less since receiving the vaccine.

“I won’t have to be afraid to go into a room anymore. I won’t have to be afraid to perform chest compressions,” Beniquez told reporters. “Our ER is busy on a good day. When COVID came, it was the worst of our days. It was our worst nightmare, with wave after wave of critical patients with no end in sight.”

Beniquez said she’s pained by how disproportionately communities of color have been devastatingly impacted the disease.

“As a woman of color and a Latina, I know that we are three times more than likely to suffer the catastrophic effects of this disease,” she said.

More than 3,600 people are hospitalized in New Jersey.