Nearly 14% of New Jersey adults received both doses of the coronavirus vaccines Pfizer and Moderna or a dose of Johnson & Johnson injected on Friday morning, while Governor Phil Murphy moves forward with the goal of achieving 70% of eligible adults in the state – about 4.7 million people – vaccinated six months after the first vaccines were applied in December.
The state administered 2,823,731 total doses as of Friday, Murphy said at a public event. That is out of the more than 3.4 million that the state has received from the federal government, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
New Jersey vaccination sites administered 1.8 million first doses – about 27% of the adult population – and 947,000 second doses, according to the state Department of Health.
Even the first dose of the two-dose vaccines has been shown to provide some protection, although the CDC says that all three available vaccines require two weeks after the final dose for the protection to reach full effectiveness. The CDC issued guidelines earlier this week saying that people who have been fully vaccinated can meet without masks two weeks after the final dose.
The state administered 636,947 second doses two weeks ago, which means that about 9% of the adult population has reached the full effectiveness mark. The state began administering the first doses of Johnson & Johnson last week.
The state is on track to reach 1 million people fully vaccinated by the end of the weekend.
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“I believe that we will reach our goal of 70% of vaccinated individuals in six months. I believe that (in) May we will have a supply of vaccines for almost everyone, ”said Judy Persichilli, commissioner for the state Department of Health, earlier this month. “I really believe that.”
President Joe Biden said on Thursday in a national speech that he plans to make all adults eligible for the vaccine by May 1 and leave the country “closer to normal” by the fourth of July.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live Map Tracker | Newsletter | Home page
The daily number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in NJ
Health officials administered the first vaccine in New Jersey on December 15.
There are three types that are being distributed. Pfizer-BioNTech requires people to wait 21 days before getting their second injection and 28 days for the second Modern injection.
The first Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccines were given to New Jerseyans on March 5, meaning that these containers will be considered fully effective on March 19. The state received a total of about 95,500 of these vaccines between what was allocated directly to the state (73,000 doses) and what went directly to pharmacies (22,500), health officials said.
There were four days when at least 77,000 shots went into people’s arms, according to state data. Greater access to vaccines is expected to grow as more doses are sent to the state in the coming weeks and months.
Millions of people are already eligible for the vaccine and hundreds of thousands more are expected to be added to the list, able to get an injection starting on Monday, and hundreds of thousands again at the end of the month.
The list of those currently eligible to be vaccinated in New Jersey includes:
- Health professionals
- People who live and work in long-term care institutions and high-risk congregational facilities
- First responders
- Educators and elementary and high school staff
- Daycare staff
- People aged 65 and over
- People aged 16 to 64 who have certain medical conditions
These medical conditions include:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Down’s syndrome
- Heart problems such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
- Obesity (body mass index [BMI] 30 kg / m2 or greater, but <40 kg / m2)
- Severe obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg / m2)
- Sickle cell anemia
- Smoke
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
- Note: Individuals who are pregnant and those in an immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) of solid organ transplantation are also eligible, but must follow CDC guidelines and first discuss vaccination with their doctor before receiving the vaccine.
Two additional groups are scheduled to become eligible from Monday and March 29. Monday’s group includes transportation workers, while the second group later this month includes a range of frontline workers, including restaurants, grocery stores and social services employees.
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Matt Arco can be contacted at [email protected].