More than five weeks after the first coronavirus vaccine was administered in New Jersey, more than 4 million additional residents – including anyone aged 65 and over – became eligible on Thursday to receive the first of the two vaccines for protection against COVID-19.
Governor Phil Murphy announced the first major expansion of the vaccine program after federal health officials changed the guidelines for eligibility and advised states not to withhold second doses.
In addition to those over 65, anyone between 16 and 64 with chronic medical conditions can also make an appointment to receive the vaccine starting on Thursday. The expanded group includes 2 million smokers, although some are included in the group aged 65 and over, and up to 1 million people with other health conditions. The group aged 65 and over includes about 1.47 million people in New Jersey.
Murphy said that increasing confidence in the reliability of the supply chain for continuous delivery of doses makes this massive expansion in eligibility possible. The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses three weeks apart and the Modern vaccine requires two doses four weeks apart.
“It is somewhat, if not largely based on anticipating – not guaranteeing, but anticipating – an increase in vaccine deliveries, since the federal government will no longer withhold doses, we are confident of taking these measures,” said Murphy. “We have established the infrastructure we need to do this job and we are now ready to start increasing our vaccination efforts exponentially.
Qualified people who live, work or study in New Jersey can receive the vaccine by appointment at one of the approved locations.
“We have 259 distribution points, 165 of which are already open while we are here today, and the others are in the process of opening,” said Murphy on Wednesday. “And of those 259, that includes the six mega sites.”
People are invited to register on the state’s website and then make an appointment on one of the websites.
The list of medical conditions for people aged 16 to 64 includes cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Down syndrome, heart disease, including heart failure, coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathy, obesity, severe obesity, illness sickle cell and type 2 diabetes. Smokers are also eligible in this group.
People who are pregnant or immunocompromised with an immune system weakened by things like a solid organ transplant are also eligible, but they must first talk to their doctors about vaccines, health officials said.
New Jersey is using an honor system for vaccinations, without requiring proof of age or medical conditions, officials said. This can change if problems arise.
“Vaccine culture in general, hopefully, will be a more positive experience than not, and we want it to be a positive experience because it will set the stage for future vaccinations,” said health commissioner Judith Persichilli on Monday. “People show integrity, they appear, they are vaccinated. So far, we see no reason why further identification mandates are needed. It may be in the future, but we just want a culture of positive vaccinations. “
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The huge expansion in eligibility can lead to long delays in getting an appointment of up to eight weeks, health officials said. More than 1.2 million people have already registered on the state’s website, officials said.
According to the CDC tracker, New Jersey has received 654,900 doses so far. The state administered 277,118 doses, including 245,785 first injections and 31,239 second injections, according to the Department of Health panel. A small number of shots were not labeled as the first or second dose, leaving a discrepancy between the totals.
The news of the vaccine comes as cases continue to rise in the last few weeks after the holiday.
New Jersey reported on Wednesday a record 6,922 new positive tests confirmed for the coronavirus and 95 additional deaths.
The seven-day average for new confirmed cases increased on Wednesday to 5,679, an increase of 22% over the previous week and 18% over the previous month. That’s the biggest seven-day average in the outbreak so far, although the lack of tests in the spring is likely to underestimate the extent of infections in the first wave.
New Jersey hospitals reported 3,638 patients with COVID-19 on Wednesday night, down 88 patients from the previous day. The hospitals dispensed 495 patients in that 24-hour period.
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Matt Arco can be contacted at [email protected].