New Jersey will aim to have 70% of its adult population vaccinated within a six-month period once a COVID-19 vaccine is approved and available, state officials announced Monday.
To reach that lofty goal, about 81,000 of the Garden State’s nine million residents would have to be vaccinated each day for five days a week, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said during a virtual coronavirus briefing in which officials laid out the first draft of New Jersey’s vaccination plan.
That’s about 3,200 people a day five days every week in each of the state’s 21 counties, Persichilli added.
By comparison, about 50% of New Jersey’s population receives the flu vaccine, and a little more than 70% of those are children, she said.
A coronavirus vaccine is not expected to be mandatory, officials said. But Gov. Phil Murphy stressed “we’ve got to make sure vaccine compliance is high."
The comments came as the state publicly unveiled a 182-page vaccination plan that it submitted to the federal Centers for Disease Control on Oct. 16. Under the plan, front-line healthcare workers, people over 65, and those with underlying conditions would be the first to receive initial doses.
Murphy stressed this is a “work in progress” that could change. But he insisted New Jersey is prepared for whenever a vaccine is set to be distributed, likely in the coming months.
“I am proud today to be able to say these four words: We will be ready," he said.
But officials said whether the state reaches its vaccination goals will depend on building trust among residents. Murphy said a big challenge will be cutting through “anti-vaccine noise” and convincing people the vaccine will be safe.
“We cannot let the online rumors and social-media-driven conspiracy theories jeopardize our ability to build statewide immunity against this deadly virus,” the governor said. “We know from public polling that there is already growing skepticism of a vaccine — and in the face of this virus, that skepticism could prove to be as deadly as the virus itself."
Murphy emphasized that New Jersey will not “simply rush forward” on a vaccine and will instead be “methodical and deliberate" to make sure it’s safe.
“If we, based on all the experts, conclude beyond any reasonable doubt that this is safe and efficacious and it can be scaled and delivered in the proper way, we need folks to do their part," he said. “We will not put anything on the street that we can’t say all those things about.”
Murphy also stressed that New Jersey will need federal help to fund the undertaking.
“Let me be clear: If we do not receive any additional funds, achieving a 70% vaccination rate will take many years, if it happens at all,” he said.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said a vaccine is imminent in the United States, though an exact timeline remains uncertain.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top infectious disease expert, told the BBC on Sunday that experts will know by early December whether a potential vaccine is safe and effective, but it likely won’t be available in a widespread fashion until next year.
“The amount of doses that will be available in December will not certainly be enough to vaccinate everybody," Fauci said. "You’ll have to wait several months into 2021.”
Four companies are in late-stage clinical trials in the United States: AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration could issue emergency authorizations for one or more of those vaccines by the first quarter of 2021, Persichilli said.
The federal government will likely make limited quantities at first, the state health commissioner said. It’s unclear how many doses New Jersey would get.
Persichilli said it’s then up to the state to determine who will receive the initial allotments. The state plans to work with local health departments to dole out the doses.
Under New Jersey’s plan, the first batches likely be reserved for healthcare workers who have potential exposure to the virus and those who are at higher risk. That includes people 65 and older, those with pre-existing medical conditions, people who live in group settings such as prisons and psychiatric hospitals, and essential workers who can’t practice social distancing — such as law enforcement personnel, food packaging and distribution workers, teachers and school staff, and child-care workers.
Officials said a big goal is making sure the vaccine is given out equitably, regardless of race or social status.
“We will work to quickly move across population segments and deliver vaccines into the communities that were hardest hit, not just those that are easiest to reach,” Murphy said.
The announcement came a week after New York laid out its vaccination plan.
New Jersey has been among the American states hit hardest by the virus. COVID-19 has killed more than 16,000 residents in nearly eight months.
Like many parts of the country, New Jersey has also been dealing with spikes in new cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks. On Monday, state officials announced 1,223 more cases and seven additional deaths, while hospitalizations reached a nearly four-month high.