A new mass COVID-19 vaccination site opened Tuesday morning in Ocean County.

The Southern Regional Middle School site in Manahawkin becomes the second site operated by the Ocean County Health Department to help vaccinate tens of thousands of people who already signed up to receive the vaccine. Utilizing schools as vaccination centers has been in the plans for a possible pandemic for 20 years.

"They are geographically dispersed throughout the county. They have a large infrastructure, large facilities, some are even offering staffing assistants to meet the need right now with the vaccination efforts,” says Ocean County Public Health Coordinator Dan Regenye.

School officials say that they are happy to be a part of the effort.

“Very gratifying for us, and we are grateful for the opportunity to provide for the seniors who live in this part of Ocean County, and we are even talking to Dan about expanding opportunities here,” says school Superintendent Craig Henry.

Like other sites around the state, health officials say that they are limited to the number of vaccines available per day because of supply limitations. But they will be able to ramp up the effort once more vaccines become available.