As people struggle to secure scarce appointments for coronavirus vaccines, New Jersey’s top health official said on Monday that the state hopes to continue receiving its regular quota of 100,000 doses from the federal government each of the next four weeks. , after frustrated hopes of supplying the national pipeline was about to increase.
State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said people who have already received the first dose of the two-dose vaccine will be able to give the second injection in time. She noted, however, that the state cannot promise when others will get their first chance, although Governor Phil Murphy broadly increased eligibility last week.
“I can guarantee that the second doses will be administered at the right time,” Persichilli told reporters on Monday morning, ahead of a vaccination event in Old Bridge. “But I cannot guarantee that more and more people will be able to receive their first dose.”
The comments come days after Murphy expanded the vaccine’s eligibility in New Jersey to residents 65 and older, those with chronic health conditions and smokers, following guidelines from the Federal Centers for Disease Control. More than 4 million New Jersey residents are now eligible.
State officials hoped to obtain “many more doses” of a national stockpile starting this week to help supply keep up with demand, based on what federal authorities have told them, Persichilli said. But “we had to step back in our expectation,” she said.
At issue is a decision by President Donald Trump’s administration that has caused confusion. The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, announced last week that, with the CDC suggesting increased eligibility, the federal government would release doses of vaccine it had been keeping in the “physical reserve” for the second injection.
But the Washington Post reported on Friday that the national stockpile was already depleted, with the government taking the second dose directly from the production line. Democratic governors have accused the Trump administration of misleading states.
The authorities emphasized that New Jersey has the capacity to administer 470,000 doses of vaccine per week. But with states depending on the federal government for their supply, New Jersey received just about 100,000 doses a week last month.
Persichilli said on Monday that the state is now “moving forward” with the expectation that New Jersey will continue to receive only 50,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 50,000 doses of Moderna a week for the next month.
“We have no hope of achieving anything more than that,” said the commissioner.
Persichilli emphasized on Monday that the state does not have its own stock to increase distribution.
“The doses go straight from the federal government to the dispensing points,” she said.
“We were hoping for more,” added Persichilli. “But what our dispensation points need is predictability for scheduling appointments. So, we’ll keep 100,000 for the next four weeks, allocate appropriately based on the capacity of some sites are more busy than others, and hope that Biden’s administration through the manufacturing pipeline will find more doses for that. Because we really need this. “
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The Federal Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a message asking for comment on Monday.
Bad luck tweeted Saturday that the administration’s announcement last week “was that we are releasing the remaining second reserved doses according to the established cadence – ensuring that the second doses would be available at the right interval – and that from now on we would no longer have a reserve of second doses, but it would use the supply chain to provide 2nd dose to states. “
“The effort by some governors to deceive the American people into distracting themselves from their own failures in distribution is unfortunate,” added Azar.
President-elect Joe Biden promised to increase vaccines a lot after taking office on Wednesday. Biden’s health officials said they were confident they could meet their goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in 100 days, despite the recent hiccup.
New Jersey faced criticism for slower deployment than dozens of other states as it continues to deal with a second wave of the pandemic, according to data from the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least 348,414 doses of the vaccine were administered in New Jersey by Sunday, according to the state’s COVID-19 panel. Of these, 308,874 were the first of the two doses that people will receive, while 39,330 were the second.
Officials say the goal is to vaccinate 70% of New Jersey residents – or about 4.7 million people – by the end of May. More than 1.5 million residents have registered for the vaccine.
New Jersey has opened four of its six planned vaccine mega-sites, which will serve as centers.
Each location is offering the injection only to priority groups, including healthcare professionals, EMS teams, police and fire, people aged 65 and over, people with chronic health conditions and smokers. State officials said that each location will be able to vaccinate thousands of people a week, as soon as there is enough supply.
There are also dozens of minor vaccine locations across the state, although many are currently not showing the availability of scheduling due to a lack of supply. State officials said more appointments will be made available as the state receives more doses.
If you are eligible, you can apply directly with vaccine providers, which can be found on a list provided by the state Department of Health, said Donna Leusner, a department spokeswoman.
These locations include county and municipal locations, individual hospitals, pharmacies and ShopRite locations.
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Brent Johnson can be contacted at [email protected]