After the delivery of the coronavirus vaccine slowed down again in the winter, New Jersey began receiving its returns, state officials said Monday.
All six mega-sites received some of the overdue Pfizer vaccines on Saturday, State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said at the last COVID-19 briefing in Trenton. The state expects the additional backlog of Pfizer shots to be delivered Monday.
The state is still waiting to hear when the award of the Pfizer vaccine will be delivered this week, she said.
Of the Moderna vaccine, Persichilli said most sites will receive deliveries on Monday.
“Half of the vaccines today are given to the first doses of Moderna,” she said.
“We know that these delays in shipping have caused some appointments to be rescheduled,” Persichilli said. ‘The shortage of vaccine is a national problem and the delayed shipments have also been felt nationwide. We continue to ask for your patience. ”
She said all the sites would “work hard” to ensure that everyone who canceled an appointment would be rescheduled, noting that the federal allocation of the vaccines would increase in the coming weeks.
Persichilli said the state was making progress in vaccinating its ‘most vulnerable populations’.
Thirty-three percent of people 80 years and older received at least one dose of the vaccine, she said, and 13 percent of the two received both doses. People in the age group make up 47% of deaths due to the virus, she said.
Of those aged 65 to 79, 33% received at least one dose of the vaccine, Persichilli said.
Persichilli also addressed the ongoing problems with the call center, saying there is ‘no difficult date’ on when agents will be able to start making appointments for people.
“We still have some system problems. They are being worked out, ” she said, noting that a system update from late last week “went well.”
Government Phil Murphy also calls the update a success.
‘We had a successful chapter with the entrepreneur at the end of last week. It was a living and challenging reality, ‘he said. “Let’s hope the chapter offers more and better chapters by the end of last week.”
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Karin Price Mueller can be reached at [email protected].