PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Gov. Phil Murphy said New Jersey has the capacity to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine — it just needs more supply.
New Jersey has administered more than a half-million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Murphy said the state’s six vaccine megasites, as well as 130 community sites, are up and running, but the state needs more vaccines.
“The issue for us right now is not that we need more distribution locations,” Murphy said at a Trenton news conference. “We need more doses.”
He applauded the distribution plan rolled out by the Biden administration. “All we need are the millions of doses that we had been promised months ago,” he said. “I am much more confident today than I was on Tuesday that we’ll get there.”
State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli also announced that two cases of the more-infectious U.K. variant had been reported in New Jersey. She said one case involved an Ocean County man in his 60s who had not traveled or been exposed to others who were sick. The man recovered at home, she said.
The second case was a child who tested positive in New York City after traveling through North Jersey. The child showed no symptoms, she said.
“At this time there is no evidence that infections by this variant cause more severe disease, according to the CDC,” Persichilli said.
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She said guidance from the CDC indicates the current vaccines are effective against the more transmissible variants.
Persichilli also said the state was opening a telephone hotline (855-568-0545) Monday at 8 a.m. to help people without a computer get information on scheduling a vaccine appointment.