scientists Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman who pioneered research for the life-saving RNA vaccine were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine today their work ultimately helping to produce the co 19 vaccines that helped billions across the world and change the course of the pandemic this news comes as major Hospital Systems in New Jersey including RWJ Barnabas health and hackin saac Midian Health are putting back in place mask mandates for step St patients and visitors as not only coid cases are on the rise but cases of the flu and RSV are increasing and as senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports with the co vaccination supply line experiencing delays many folks are feeling frustrated over not being able to get a shot we're getting uh you know many calls per day 30 40 calls a day do you have the co vaccine do you have the co vaccine you know I can't find it anywhere and that's the problem y Shaw is turning away clients looking for the latest coid shot at his business Hudson drug and creskill he's got the updated flu vaccine and he's scheduling RSV shots too but like some pharmacists in New Jersey he's finding both fizer and merna's version of the new Co monovalent vaccine impossible to stalk because it's not government organized there's a lot of different there's more moving pieces there's not uh an overhead like our government to to distribute and mandate um and you know produ have the supply given to us I would say they have not logistically prepared for the roll out Brian Pinto also can't schedule coid shots at his business Tiffany natural Pharmacy in Westfield it's the first time the federal government's not Distributing or funding every dose of coid vaccine leaving medical providers struggling with insurance issues and Supply Kinks um calls have went unanswered to madna um fizer is is um passing the blame on to the wholesalers who you know when you ask them are saying there are delay they're getting small small shipments from fizer but not enough to really send orders to all of their customers Pinto says larger chains like CVS sometimes schedule coid shots but then cancel appointments if there's not enough vaccine or staff available an estimated 2 million people in the US have gotten the new Co shot over the past couple weeks but it's concerning that some of the early data are suggesting The public's acceptance is more um reticent there's uh maybe some fatigue some questioning is this really necessary and so it's unclear how much of a benefit we're really going to get this year if people aren't actually taking the vaccine Rucker David Simo points to last Fall's triple demic when hospitals experienced a surge in coid flu and pediatric RSV cases but New Jersey's Department of Health doesn't expect a triped demic repeat especially given the Arsenal of new vaccines we're excited about the availability of these new preventative methods and we feel reassured and that they can help Tamp down uh the number particularly of severe cases that we might otherwise have seen in our hospitals and in our emergency departments Dr SEL hathy says the co vaccine supply chain will open up she's urging folks to double up but certainly for for Co and for flu you can get those at the same time just get them on different Arms New Jersey hospitals report admissions for respiratory virus cases are already Rising especially for coid specifically that we've quadrupled the number of patients in our hospitals since July um when we were running somewhere between 20 and 30 patients in our hospitals at a given moment now we're in the hundreds so we've seen a big increase there we've also seen an increase in emergency room visits Dr Andy Anderson says RWJ Barnabas Health which underwrites NJ Spotlight news has renewed mask mandates so has the hackin sack Meridian hospital system to protect our patients um specifically we're requiring visitors vendors staff doctors nurses to to wear masks Health experts advise don't wait to get vaccinated I'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight News support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey an independent lensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association