SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey has administered 214,000 COVID-19 vaccinations thus far, and more than 1 million people have preregistered to be next in line.
Currently, only members of Phase 1a of vaccine distribution — which includes front-line health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, and sworn police and firefighters — are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Meanwhile, no ID or documentation is required for residents to sign up online, so State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said the state is relying on people to not try to jump ahead.
“We are trusting the integrity of all of you to do the right thing in this regard and to not ‘jump the line,’ ” she said at a Trenton news conference. “I get many, many emails a day from people really begging to get the vaccine, and I don’t blame them. But we just have to try to do it in an orderly fashion.”
Persichilli said there have been scattered reports of people “jumping the line” — some of which were actually honest mistakes. When people who aren’t yet eligible show up at a vaccine center, Persichilli said the staff is instructed to take their name and call them back at the end of the day, if any unused doses remain.
Gov. Phil Murphy noted there has been a surge in new cases after the holidays, with 5,042 positive tests reported Monday.
“This is what we were afraid of: People letting their guard down over Christmas and New Year’s and spreading the virus among their families and friends,” he said. “For the next upcoming days, we’re probably going to see the impact of this.”
Murphy said the COVID-19 hospitalization rate, though, has remained stable, with 3,600 to 3,700 people in the hospital over the last week. That number is well short of the 8,000 hospitalizations at the peak of the first wave in April.