TRENTON (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey expects to meet Governor Phil Murphy’s summer vaccination goal, despite the national pause of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.
Murphy is calling the pause of the J&J vaccine a “bump in the road.”
At a briefing in Trenton on Wednesday, Murphy said the J&J pause will not affect New Jersey’s plan to open up vaccine eligibility to all adults on Monday.
“We will keep pushing forward with the tools available to us,” Murphy said.
Murphy said that out of 244,000 J&J doses administered in New Jersey, no adverse effects have been reported similar to the six cases of blood clots that prompted the pause.
State health commissioner Judy Persichilli explained most of the state’s large vaccine sites are keeping their J&J appointments, and using the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines instead.
“At this time, we don’t know if we will be receiving additional increases in Pfizer and Moderna doses beyond what is expected,” Persichilli said.
“Most sites get a mix of vaccine types, so many are able to switch to either Pfizer or Moderna for their appointments.”
Persichilli said people should not hesitate to get vaccinated.
“It’s important to remember that your risk of getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19 is much greater than experiencing this extremely rare possible side effect,” she said.
The state had planned to use the one-dose J&J vaccine to reach people, including those who are homeless, migrant workers or those without transportation.
Murphy said the pause on the J&J vaccines will complicate the state’s efforts.
“The notion of cold chain storage, two appointments, is really hard with some of these hard-to-reach vulnerable populations,” he explained.
Murphy said the J&J vaccine made up only 4% of New Jersey’s total vaccinations. He revealed that the state still plans to meet its goal of inoculating 70% of the adult population by the end of June.