Governor Phil Murphy on Friday countered criticism that the state included about 2 million smokers in the massive expansion of coronavirus vaccine eligibility that started on Thursday, while leaving out some groups of essential workers such as teachers.
The governor, speaking during his regular COVID-19 briefing, said he rejected the “false narrative” that smokers are skipping the line as a “cheap shot”, and noted that the state was following federal guidance in including smokers.
“I get it. I understand the point here and that attacking people who have acquired the habit of smoking and who are now addicted can be politically viable,” said Murphy.
“But right now, we are stuck in a position where we have to prioritize our limited vaccine doses based on medical facts and not on political wishes,” he said. “We cannot lose sight of a critical medical fact that this is a respiratory virus. Smoking like other chronic and medical illnesses increases someone’s risk. In this sense, we are in agreement with the guidance of the CDC. “
He added: “We need to protect our hospitals from a sudden increase in patients.”
As of Thursday, people 65 and older have become eligible to receive the vaccine in a massive expansion of Murphy’s program. People aged 14 to 64 with chronic illnesses, which included smoking, were also added to the list of people who can get an injection.
Previously, health professionals, people who lived and worked in nursing homes and police and firefighters were the only people who could get the vaccine.
This means that there are about 4 million people out of 9 million residents now eligible for the vaccine.
Many teachers are upset that smokers had access to the vaccine before educators, according to union leaders.
“A lot of people responded to the smoker’s part,” said Anthony Rosamilia, president of the Essex County Education Association. “If at this point, in 2021, you don’t know how dangerous it is to smoke and you still choose to smoke and that puts you ahead of someone who doesn’t know – it’s not just educators, I think the general public is not happy about that.”
But demand continues to outstrip supply with about 100,000 doses being delivered to New Jersey each week.
More than 300,000 doses of the vaccine were administered in the state as of Friday morning, according to the state’s COVID-19 panel. Of these, 273,335 were the first of the two doses that people will receive, while 37,077 were the second dose, according to the panel.
The single-day discharge so far was January 8, when 24,482 doses were administered, according to the state.
New Jersey administered an average of about 10,000 injections per day during the first 30 days of the program, including Christmas Day, when no doses were administered. The state has averaged about 17,000 shots a day for the past seven days, state records show.
The state has faced criticism for implementing vaccines too slowly. The authorities emphasize that there may be a lower count of the number of vaccines administered due to delays in reporting and New Jersey, like other states, depends on the federal government for its supply.
Authorities said the doses should be available to the general public in April or May. Health officials said they expect to vaccinate 70% of their adult residents – about 4.7 million people – by the end of May.
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New Jersey health officials reported 5,490 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 67 additional deaths on Friday, as vaccination sites reported a huge increase in consultations with the expansion of eligibility that started a day earlier.
The New Jersey chief health officer warned on Wednesday that the state is preparing for an “increase” in hospitalizations due to the most recent peak cases that may occur as early as next week and could trigger a new round of restrictions, especially with elective surgeries.
Although hospitalizations remained between 3,500 and 3,900 for weeks, well below the peak of more than 8,000 in the spring, Department of Health commissioner Judy Persichilli said hospital staff are concerned about the weeks ahead due to staff availability .
“We are preparing for the predictive increase that could begin next week in mid-February,” said Persichilli on Wednesday.
“What we will not have is the appropriate level of personnel that people are familiar with, conventional personnel,” she said. “Therefore, we will be working with our hospitals if they need to progress to what we call a contingency team and, hopefully, never an emergency team.”
Murphy warned that hospitalizations of more than 5,000 patients would likely trigger some new restrictions – particularly in elective surgeries, which include procedures such as the removal of tumors.
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Matt Arco can be contacted at [email protected].