Hundreds of thousands of coronavirus vaccines are expected to be delivered to New Jersey by the federal government in the coming weeks, but it continues to fall short of substantial demand after eligibility was expanded this week, state health officials said on Friday. .
The state is expected to receive about 100,000 doses a week, Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said on Friday. But the state has the capacity and demand to administer up to 470,000 doses, she said. More than 1.5 million people have registered to receive the vaccine and more than 310,000 doses have been administered.
“The supply of the vaccine is still extremely limited and will remain for some time,” said Persichilli. “There will be more vaccine every week that comes. We ask everyone to be patient. We understand that people are anxious. “
Governor Phil Murphy greatly expanded the number of eligible people this week, when he announced that people over 65 could register, as well as people aged 14 to 64 with chronic illnesses. The state’s approximately 2 million smokers can also be vaccinated. The expansion meant that queries were filled quickly.
Persichilli said that more than 4 million people are now eligible in New Jersey, including healthcare professionals, those in long-term care facilities and police and fire departments.
Authorities said the doses should be available to the general public in April or May. Health officials said they expect to vaccinate 70% of their adult residents – about 4.7 million people – by the end of May.
But the state may fall short of that deadline due to a lack of supply.
“We have residents ready to roll up their sleeves to be vaccinated,” he said. “We only need to supply the feds to meet this demand. It is becoming increasingly evident that we are ready and they are not ”.
The governor said this was complicated by the transition of power in Washington, DC, while President-elect Joe Biden is preparing to replace President Donald Trump on January 20.
“We are going to work hard with the next government,” said Murphy. “We need a greater supply of vaccines from the feds. We must play everything we have to end this pandemic. “
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More than 310,000 doses of the vaccine were administered in the state as of Friday morning, according to the state’s COVID-19 panel. Of these, 273,335 were the first of the two doses that people will receive.
The single-day discharge so far was Friday, January 8, when 24,482 doses were administered, according to the state-run company.
New Jersey administered an average of about 10,000 injections per day during the first 30 days of the program, including Christmas Day, when no doses were administered. The state has averaged about 17,000 shots a day for the past seven days, state records show.
The state has faced criticism for implementing vaccines too slowly. The authorities emphasize that there may be a lower count of the number of vaccines administered due to delays in reporting and New Jersey, like other states, depends on the federal government for its supply.
New Jersey health officials reported 5,490 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 67 additional deaths on Friday, as vaccination sites reported a huge increase in consultations with the expansion of eligibility that started a day earlier.
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Matt Arco can be contacted at [email protected].