State May Receive COVID-19 Vaccines by Christmas

By Anthony Birritteri, Editor-in-Chief On Nov 20, 2020

The state may see the first shipment of Pfizer and BioNTech’s joint COVID-19 vaccine, approximately 130,000 doses, by Christmas, with more shipments to follow, Gov. Phil Murphy said at today’s COVID-19 press briefing.

Pfizer today announced it will apply to the US Food & Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for its new vaccine, which in clinical trails was reported to be 95% effective.

Since the Pfizer vaccine is a two-dose treatment, Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said the state may receive the initial 130,000 doses by the third week of December, followed by an additional 130,000 by the end of the month.

Additionally, there may be overlap with Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine (also said to be 95% effective), which is expected to be shipped to New Jersey by the end of December or the beginning of January. This will be two shipments of 100,000 doses each.

“This means we can have between 400,000 to 460,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the state by early January,” Persichilli said.

The Pfizer vaccine requires ultra cold storage, which, presently, 40 hospitals in the state have the capacity for.

Meanwhile, the Moderna vaccine requires regular refrigeration, which all hospitals and pharmacies can handle.

The vaccines will be provided in phases, based on CDC guidance. Persichilli said the state’s goal is to vaccinate 70% of the adult population, or 4.7 million New Jerseyans within six months. Those working in healthcare settings will be among the first groups of people to receive the vaccines.

Meanwhile, Gov. Murphy said testing for the virus has increased exponentially in the state since the start of the pandemic. “We recently hit a high of 70,000 tests in one day,” Murphy said. “In November, we are averaging 45,000 tests per day. These are just PCR (polymerise chain reaction) tests and do not include antigen rapid test results.

He said the state is moving forward with bringing the BinaxNow rapid antigen tests, which it has received from the federal government, “out into the field.”

“We have about 100,000 BinaxNow tests currently inventoried, with another 1.75 million expected to be delivered form the federal government. These will be distributed to where emergent needs may arise,” Murphy said.

As in a previous COVID-19 press briefing, the governor asked all residents to cooperate with contact tracers.

“The percentage of cases in which people refuse to provide any contacts for follow-up tracing continues to hover at 60%. I urge you to please take the call. Our contact tracers have a clear job. They are not on a witch hunt. They are making sure you have the resources you need to self quarantine and notify those you may have exposed, so they can take steps to protect themselves and slow the spread of the virus,” Murphy said.

In other news, the governor today signed legislation (A-1649), which protects the home addresses and telephone numbers of judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers from public disclosure. The bill, known as “Daniel’s Law,” is named in honor of Daniel Anderl, the late son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas. Daniel was shot to death in the judge’s home by an individual who had compiled a dossier of personal information about Judge Salas, including the judge’s home address.

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