When New Jersey expands eligibility for the coronavirus vaccine later this month, it will not just be teachers and other essential professionals added to the list of those who qualify for the vaccines.
The state also added people aged 16 to 64 with at least one of the 11 conditions that federal health officials say can increase the risk of serious cases of COVID-19 – such as asthma, hypertension and a body mass index that qualifies them as being overweight.
Governor Phil Murphy announced on Monday that the state will significantly expand the vaccine’s eligibility to include several hundred thousand New Jersey residents in the next four weeks. Preschoolers to 12th grade teachers, as well as daycare and transportation employees, will become eligible on March 15th and key frontline employees, including restaurant and grocery store employees, will be eligible two weeks later, March 29th.
The update also quietly included “all individuals” aged 16 to 64 with medical conditions defined by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that “increase the risk or may increase the risk of serious illnesses caused by the virus”. They will be qualified on March 29th.
Murphy did not highlight this part of the expansion during his public briefing on Monday, although it was included as a link to the CDC website in a press release issued by his office later that day.
This means that 11 conditions, according to the CDC, that were not part of the state’s eligibility criteria, will be included as of March 29:
- Asthma (moderate to severe)
- Cerebrovascular disease (affects blood vessels and blood supply to the brain)
- Cystic fibrosis
- Hypertension or high blood pressure
- Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) due to blood or bone marrow transplantation, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids or use of other drugs to weaken the immune system
- Neurological conditions, such as dementia
- Liver disease
- Overweight (those with a BMI greater than 25 but less than 30; obese residents were already eligible). See the CDC BMI calculator here.
- Pulmonary fibrosis (with damaged lung tissue or scarring)
- Thalassemia (a type of blood disorder)
- Type 1 diabetes
New Jersey is launching the vaccine in stages. Currently eligible are health care workers, first responders, residents aged 65 and over, smokers and people aged 16 to 64 who have medical conditions that the CDC says increases the risk of serious COVID-19.
These pre-existing conditions are:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),
- Down’s syndrome
- Cardiac conditions, including, for example, heart failure, coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathy
- Obesity (BMI over 30) and severe obesity
- Sickle cell anemia
- Type 2 diabetes
It is unclear how many hundreds of thousands of people the next expanded qualification will include. Murphy did not have a clear estimate on Wednesday at his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton.
But a 2016 CDC report found that 64% of New Jersey residents are overweight (36.3%) or obese (26.9%).
The increase in eligibility occurs even though authorities say that the demand for the vaccine continues to exceed supply and residents have been struggling to get consultations in a tortuous online system.
Still, officials expressed confidence that the offer will increase in the coming weeks, especially with the arrival on Wednesday of the new single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick. Murphy said the first Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered in New Jersey is scheduled to take place on Friday.
Murphy also said on Wednesday that the state’s vaccine supply is expected to “explode” in early April. And he said that even with supply problems, “people deserved to know when they will be eligible.”
On Tuesday, news broke that the new drugmaker Merck, from New Jersey, will help Johnson & Johnson, its rival, produce the new vaccine to increase supplies. Murphy said it would “boost” the state’s vaccination efforts and “put more injections into people’s arms.”
President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that his government is invoking the federal Defense Production Act to increase production of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine and said the United States will produce enough vaccines for “all adults in America by the end of May “. Biden also called on states to prioritize teachers and school officials in their vaccination schedules.
Murphy was asked on Monday what he would say to those already eligible who failed to get a vaccine indication and can now expect substantially more competition for one. He expressed sympathy for those affected by the “supply / demand imbalance”, while also highlighting the “universal praise” for the effective administration of the vaccine.
“There is no doubt that there is frustration for people who are still trying to get in there,” said Murphy. “Among other reasons, by giving a window of two weeks for this first installment and a window of four weeks for the second installment, it is trying to get as much of that community through the system as possible.”
State health commissioner Judith Persichilli said on Wednesday that the state is starting to contact senior citizens who have registered with the state’s Vaccine Scheduling System. She also said that they will be “first in line”.
Those who have already signed up will not lose their place in the queue when the new groups sign up, added Persichilli.
There were about 2.19 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in New Jersey on Tuesday morning, according to the state panel. This includes about 1.44 million first doses and about 740,400 second doses.
That is out of more than 2.6 million doses the state has received, according to an ongoing count by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state’s goal is to vaccinate 70% of its adult population – about 4.7 million people – in the coming months.
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Brent Johnson can be contacted at [email protected].