NJ Expands Vaccine Eligibility to Those Ages 65 and Older

By Jim Pytell, Managing Editor On Jan 13, 2021

Gov. Phil Murphy announced today that New Jersey residents ages 65 and older will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine starting tomorrow. Additionally, residents between ages 16 and 64 that have medical conditions defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as increasing their risk of severe illness from the virus, will also be eligible tomorrow.

The medical conditions according to the CDC include cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, Down Syndrome, heart conditions, obesity and severe obesity, sickle cell disease, smoking and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Murphy said that this next step is “largely based on the anticipation of increased deliveries of vaccines,” from the federal government.

“We have set the infrastructure we need to do this job and we are now ready to begin to ramp up our vaccination efforts exponentially,” the governor said.

He added that the vaccination administration will continue to be appointment-based, in an effort to avoid having residents waiting outside for hours in long lines.

Eligible residents will start receiving notifications about scheduling an appointment in the state’s system, when they are eligible. If a resident has pre-registered at the state’s vaccination website (covidvaccine.nj.gov), and is now eligible, they should soon be receiving an email allowing them to schedule an appointment at a vaccination site near them.

So far, more than 1.2 million people have already pre-registered to get vaccinated, and, as of this morning, 264,618 vaccines have been administered statewide. Murphy said he expects that number to grow “exponentially” over the coming weeks.

“Should the federal government continue to make more doses available, as we expect them to, we anticipate being able to allow more and more residents into the vaccination lines,” he said.

Additionally, Murphy toured the Bergen New Bridge Medical Center annex vaccine site this morning.

The Paramus site, labeled an initial distribution point for the Moderna vaccine, began distribution to hospital employees and Phase 1A personnel on December 28.

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