As nurses in New Jersey administered the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli deflected the optimism of the moment by warning that vaccinations would be slow.
“We expect demand for the vaccine to exceed supply,” Persichilli said in late December.
This seems to be a bit of an understatement.
So far, New Jersey has administered at least the first dose of the vaccine to just 3.1% of the people in the state, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of Friday night. This is slightly lower than the national average of 3.2% and lower than about half of all states.
Public health experts say the narrow, phased approach to vaccinations in New Jersey has unnecessarily delayed implementation.
“The phases do not work; they are very problematic, ”said Perry Halkitis, dean of Rutgers University School of Public Health. “We need phases, but we want porous phases.”
Halkitis compares the phased approach to vaccines in the state to a sinking ship where one lifeboat has to be filled before people can start filling next time. “It will end in death,” he said.
But while they criticize the state’s vaccination plan, health experts acknowledge that a more methodical approach is preferred over what has been done in other states, such as Florida, which made national news last week as a more open strategy against vaccinations. long queues, Eventbrite scheduling and reports from outside the state getting shots.
Florida’s strategy was to open up vaccinations to its large population of people over the age of 65 – a group of more than 4 million, equivalent to about half of the entire population of New Jersey – although the state has only a small fraction of had the shots available to the people. . Predictably, confusion arose.
“The deployment in Florida bothers me, in what I see is the idea that older adults have to stand in line and wait all night, for many reasons disturbing,” said Preeti Malani, chief health officer at the University of Michigan. . “No one should do that.”
Jared Moskowitz, director of Florida’s Emergency Management Division, told the Orlando Sentinel that a lack of supplies and information from the federal government is to blame for the state’s vaccination issues, not a problem with planning or implementation at the state level.
But even though Florida has problems shooting guns, the state still administered vaccinations to 3.6% of its population, a larger portion than New Jersey has managed.
“I can make sense of vaccinating as many people as possible as soon as possible, even if they do not fall into the categories 1A, 1B, 1C that were initially recommended,” said Paul Offit, director of the Center for Vaccination for Education at the Children, said. Philadelphia Hospital and member of the FDA’s vaccination advisory board.
But a more effective effect of vaccines is somewhere between New Jersey and Florida, experts say.
“I believe somewhere between a very conservative approach and a vaccine for free for everyone is probably the right approach,” said Stephanie Silvera, an epidemiologist at Montclair State University. “I do think that New Jersey has taken an overly cautious and conservative approach so far, and that has led to a very slow rollout that we are just beginning to see the pace.”
Silvera added that government officials need to extend the hours for vaccinations and train more people to deliver shots, making it as easy as possible for people to be vaccinated.
The slower-than-expected rate of vaccinations, both in New Jersey and across the country, has led to tension, as coronavirus burnout continues to spread in the United States and daily daily death records are set. Models now predict that within a few months, more than 500,000 people will be killed by COVID-19 in this country.
Health officials in New Jersey reported 5,490 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus and 67 additional deaths on Friday. The state now lost 20,320 residents during the COVID-19 outbreak – 18,229 confirmed deaths and 2091 considered probable. New Jersey has already announced 1,231 confirmed deaths this month after 1890 in December.
On Wednesday, Gov. Phil Murphy announced the first major expansion of the state’s vaccination program, which opened fire on people 65 and older and people at conditions who are at greater risk for COVID-19-related health complications. The decision was based on a change in federal guidelines and the expectation that more doses would be available soon.
“This is somewhat if not largely based on the anticipation – not guarantee, but anticipation – of increased deliveries of vaccines, as the federal government will no longer withhold doses, we are confident of taking these steps,” Murphy said Wednesday. said. “We have the necessary infrastructure to do this work, and we are now ready to exponentially fuel our vaccination efforts.”
The infrastructure includes a planned 259 vaccination sites, of which six are so-called mega-sites. The state has 165 sites open as of Wednesday, Murphy said.
More than 1 million people have already registered to be vaccinated and the state hopes to shoot 70% of its adult population, about 4.7 million people, by May. People are asked to register on the state’s website and then make an appointment at one of the vaccination centers.
Halkitis said the expansion of the vaccines announced this week would help New Jersey, but added he would like to see it expanded further.
“I think we’ll look better over time,” Halkitis said. ‘I think you do need the rules, otherwise it will be a free-for-everyone. 65 and immune users (people) is a step in the right direction, but I would add teachers and other frontline workers. ”
Our journalism needs your support. Please sign in today at NJ.com.
Payton Guion can be reached at [email protected].