finally tonight if you need to visit a hospital in Hudson County make sure you pack a mask half of Hudson's six hospitals are reinstating a mask mandate due to a recent spike in Corona virus cases Hudson Regional Hospital Jersey City Medical Center and Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen have all put the safety requirement back in place so have all RWJ Barnabas Health hospitals across the state and some of hackens saac Meridian health medical centers according to the State Department of Health weekly case counts have increased from about a thousand per week during the summer to a range of three to more than 4,000 per week since kids returned to school this week Hoboken officials also brought back a pandemic era necessity a free co9 vaccine clinic with the reformulated shots targeting new variants Raven Santana was there well I don't want to get sick you know people still die so it's you it's been proven effective so that's why I'm here Hoboken resident Christine Rella is just one of more than 100 people that showed up to receive the new updated madna and fiser coid 19 vaccines Rella was able to do so free of charge at a clinic hosted by the city of Hoboken and Hudson Regional Health commission it's the updated formula so um it's protective against the uh newest variant that's emerging and we have 120 appointments and right now at this time we are actually appointment only due to the amount of vaccine that we received from our distributor so um appointments are um strongly recommended because we can't guarantee walk-ins at this time those walk-ins now include anyone 6 months or older we have a lot of interest in um vaccinating and adults and parents getting their six months old 6 month and up vaccinated um a lot lot of pharmacies are only giving out to ages three and up so we're providing an important piece by vaccinating that age group from 6 months and up where a lot of providers or pediatricians offices don't have the vaccine so we're adjust we're filling that Gap getting vaccinated is is important it's a regular thing that you got to do it's we're past the crisis mode of the past few years and now it's getting used to it it's like hey flu shot co shot to try to get the the newest variant uh covered um not going to eved it but I know it will be it will make things much easier um is this your first time getting the vaccine no this is like my fifth time and it's his first time it's his third boo boo it's a boo boo you okay now yeah yeah good job high five good job for those of you who are ready to get their shot like Benjamin inventory has been a common barrier for those ready to receive their shot that's because some new jerseyans are finding it difficult to get an appointment for themselves or their children after a rocky start to the roll out professor in the Department of Public Health at Monclair State University Stephanie Silvera says logistical challenges aren't rare when rolling out new vaccines so I think anytime you're trying to roll out new vaccines or the next booster especially in something that is still relatively new there can be logistical challenges one of which is the temperature at which these vaccines continue to need to be held at and so there's a production side and then there's distribution because of that removal of the emergency order there may be a perception that you cannot get the vaccine for free and that's not true particularly in New Jersey where there are programs to support access to free vaccines which is why Hoboken city council president says Partnerships are critical tools to creating resources for the most vulnerable communities people are looking into the winter season and saying it's time for me to get my updated vaccines my flu shots um even RSV I'm getting requests for so I think people know now to look to the city for some level of infrastructure around their vaccine process staff says due to the demand and need for the co 19 vaccines they plan to hold another clinic next week for NJ Spotlight News I'm Raven Santana