Government Phil Murphy on Friday pushed back against criticism that the state included about 2 million smokers in the huge expansion of the coronavirus vaccine that began Thursday, while some groups of essential workers such as teachers were left out.
The governor said during his regular COVID-19 briefing that he rejected the ‘false story’ that smokers are a ‘cheap shot’, noting that the state is following federal leadership by including smokers.
“I understand. I understand the optics here and that offensive people who use the habit of smoking and who are now addicted can be politically useful,” Murphy said.
“But at the moment we are caught in a position that we need to prioritize our limited doses of vaccines based on medical facts and not political shortcomings,” he said. ‘We can not lose sight of a critical medical fact that it is a respiratory virus. Smoking like other chronic and medical conditions carries someone at higher risk. In this we agree with the CDC leadership. ”
He added: “We need to protect our hospitals from a surge of patients.”
As of Thursday, people 65 and older were eligible to receive the vaccine in a massive expansion of the program by Murphy. People aged 14 to 64 with chronic illnesses, including smoking, were also added to the list of people who could get a chance.
Previously, health workers, people living and working in nursing homes, and the police and firefighters were the only people who could get a vaccine.
This means that approximately 4 million people out of 9 million inhabitants are now eligible for the vaccine.
According to union leaders, many teachers were upset that smokers had access to the vaccine in front of educators.
“A lot of people have reacted to the smoky part of it,” said Anthony Rosamilia, president of the Essex County Education Association. ‘If at this stage, in 2021, you do not know how dangerous smoking is and you still choose to smoke, then it puts you in front of someone who does not – it’s not just educators, I think the general public is fortunately not. about it. “
But demand still remains much better than supply, with about 100,000 doses each week.
According to the COVID-19 dashboard of the state, more than 300,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the state since Friday morning. Of these, 273,335 were the first of two doses that people would receive, according to the dashboard, while 37,077 were the second dose.
The one-day high so far on January 8, according to the state, was 24,482 doses administered.
New Jersey scored about 10,000 shots a 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 over the past seven days, according to state records.
The state has faced criticism for implementing vaccinations too slowly. Officials stress that there may be an underestimation in the number of vaccines administered as a result of delays, and that New Jersey, like other states, is dependent on the federal government for its supply.
Officials said doses should be available to the general public by April or May. Health officials said they wanted to vaccinate 70% of its adult population – about 4.7 million people – by the end of May.
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Health officials in New Jersey reported 5,490 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus and 67 additional deaths on Friday, as vaccination rooms reported a huge increase in appointments with the expansion of fitness starting a day earlier.
New Jersey’s top health official warned Wednesday that the state is prepared for an ‘increase’ in hospitalizations of the latest cases that could come early next week and that could cause a new round of restrictions, especially with elective surgeries.
While hospitalizations for weeks remained between 3,500 and 3,900, well below the more than 8,000 peak in the spring, Judy Persichilli, department of health commissioner, said hospital officials were worried about the coming weeks due to available staff.
“We are preparing for the predictive boom that could start as early as next week until mid-February,” Persichilli said on Wednesday.
“What we will not have is the appropriate level of staff that people know, conventional staff,” she said. “We will therefore work with our hospitals if they have to progress to what we call an emergency staff and hopefully never a crisis staff.”
Murphy warned that hospitalizations of more than 5,000 patients are likely to cause new restrictions, particularly with regard to elective surgeries, including procedures such as tumor removal.
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Matt Arco can be reached at [email protected].