“The more people we get with gunshots, the more lives we save,” said Reboli. “It becomes dangerous when you know something is an important risk factor and then choose that list.”
Other states, however, appear to have done just that. New Mexico and Texas have made people with other high-risk medical conditions eligible for the vaccine, but not smokers. Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts and North Carolina include smokers, but only in later stages.
Getting on the list of people eligible for the rationed vaccine is one thing. Securing an appointment for a photo is another.
Officials who run a county vaccine site in Kearny, NJ, said on Friday that they had received 3,500 requests within 24 hours of the state’s expanded eligibility announcement, but hoped they had exhausted their initial vaccine supply by Monday. They said they hoped to receive more doses by Tuesday.
In Bergen County, one of the first epicenters of the virus in New Jersey, vacancies for the Holy Name Medical Center vaccine clinic were filled hours after being made available online – even before the number of eligible people grew.
Dr. Adam Jarrett, the chief medical officer at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, NJ, said that having many people eligible to be vaccinated is better than having few, and he praised the state’s wide expansion. Last month, before eligibility was expanded, the hospital sometimes found itself with extra doses of thawed vaccine later in the day.
No vaccine was wasted, said Dr. Jarrett, but it took effort.
“We literally walked down the halls and called the hospital staff,” said Jarrett. “This vaccine is golden and we don’t want to waste a single dose.”
Now, he said, the challenge is to get more vaccine from the federal government.
“We need to open it,” said Jarrett. “When you are vaccinated, you are doing it for yourself, but also for the community in general.”