What you need to know
- Incoming vaccine shipments from PJFizer and Moderna recently approved by NJ have been reduced by 20 percent, an official said Friday
- The estimated deficit of 20 percent leaves the state 100,000 doses below the expected vaccine count for December
- Residents and long-term care staff will be eligible to receive the first dose of coronavirus vaccine beginning December 28.
Shipments of vaccines to New Jersey from Pfizer and Modern (the latter to which the FDA obtained emergency use approval on Friday) have been reduced by 20 percent, the governor said. Phil Murphy at a traffic briefing on Friday.
“We are still trying to get to the bottom of what we understand will be a 20 percent reduction in both Pfizer and Moderna vaccine shipments, at least in the short term,” Murphy said. “I can’t give you a clear answer as to why.”
New Jersey officials had been warned Thursday of a problem in the Pfizer distribution. The pharmaceutical company issued a statement saying there were millions of doses of vaccine sitting in its warehouse while waiting for instructions from the federal government on where to send them.
“Pfizer has not had any production issues with our COVID-19 vaccine and any shipment containing the vaccine is pending or delayed,” spokesman Eamonn Nolan said in an email. “We continue to ship our orders to locations specified by the U.S. government.”
Modern told NBC New York that it is the responsibility of the federal government to direct shipments, though he added that the company still expects to deliver 20 million doses by the end of the month.
In recent days, governors and health leaders from more than a dozen states, including New Jersey, have said the federal government has told them that the allocation of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine next week will be lower than expected. initially. New Jersey forecasts a 34% drop in its planned allocation, a state Department of Health spokesman told News News on Thursday.
According to NBC News, there are 27 states experiencing problems with the vaccine supply chain, including Connecticut and New Jersey, but not New York.
“I spoke with Pfizer yesterday at much higher levels, frankly, they don’t understand. I think Pfizer’s reduction goes in the 34 percent line and Moderna’s reduction is more modest,” Murphy said Friday.
Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said the 20% deficit would leave the state without nearly 100,000 doses expected to be received in December. The state expected to get 273,000 doses of Pfizer, but is now down to 183,000, a 33% decrease.
In Washington, DC, two senior Trump administration officials told the Associated Press that states will receive full assignments, but misunderstandings about the supply of vaccines and changes to the delivery schedule can create confusion.
One official said the initial number of available doses provided to states were projections based on manufacturers ’information, not fixed assignments. Some state officials may have misunderstood it, the official said.
Changes to the delivery schedule, at the request of governors, may be contributing to a wrong impression that fewer doses arrive, officials said. The key change is to space the delivery of weekly state assignments over several days to make distribution more manageable.
Murphy began outlining what the state’s vaccination sites will look like in the coming weeks and months. First, the governor says six “megapais” are scheduled to open in early January to inoculate the state’s front-line health workers.
The six sites will be in Bergen County: Meadowlands complex; Morris County: Rockaway Townsquare Mall; Middlesex County: New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center; Burlington County: Moorestown Mall: Gloucester County: Rowan College of South Jersey; Atlantic County: Atlantic City Convention Center.
The state observes at least 200 total vaccination sites beyond the six “megapais”. After health workers, essential workers and New Jerseyers over the age of 65 will be eligible for the vaccine.
“Vaccine demand will exceed supply,” Persichilli said Friday. Currently, vaccines are only available to people in category “1A,” which includes hospital health workers in direct contact with patients with COVID.
Persichilli said 2,149 health workers had received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Friday’s briefing. Hospitals remain the only places where the vaccine is distributed.
Residents and long-term care staff will be eligible for the first dose of the vaccine beginning Dec. 28, the health commissioner announced Friday, through a partnership with CVS and Walgreens. Persichilli said vaccines for this group should end in February. New Jersey aims to vaccinate 70 percent of the state’s adult population, or about 5 million people, in six months, he added.