What to know
- NJ’s inbound shipments of the vaccine from Pfizer and newly approved Moderna are down 20 percent, an official said Friday.
- The estimated 20 percent shortage keeps the state 100,000 doses lower than the expected number of vaccines for December
- Residents and long-term care staff will be eligible for the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine beginning December 28
Shipments of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna to New Jersey – the last to receive emergency use clearance from the FDA on Friday – have been cut by an estimated 20 percent, Governor Phil Murphy said during a transit briefing Friday.
“We’re still trying to get to the bottom of what we think will be a 20 percent reduction in both Pfizer and Moderna vaccine shipments, at least in the short term,” said Murphy. “I can’t give you a clear answer as to why.”
Officials in New Jersey had been notified on Thursday of a problem in Pfizer’s distribution. The pharmacy company has released a statement saying there are millions of doses of the vaccine in its warehouse while it awaits instructions from the federal government on where to send it.
“Pfizer has had no manufacturing problems with our COVID-19 vaccine, and no shipments of the vaccine have been suspended or delayed,” spokesman Eamonn Nolan said in an email. “We will continue to ship our orders to the locations specified by the US government.”
Moderna told NBC New York that it is the federal government’s responsibility to send shipments, adding that the company still expects to deliver 20 million doses by the end of the month.
In recent days, governors and health leaders in more than a dozen states, including New Jersey, have said the federal government has told them the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine allocation next week will be less than originally planned. New Jersey expects a 34 percent drop in the projected allotment, a health department spokesman told News 4 on Thursday.
According to NBC News, there are 27 states experiencing vaccine supply chain issues, including Connecticut and New Jersey, but not New York.
“I spoke to Pfizer yesterday at very high levels, frankly, they don’t understand this. I think the Pfizer reduction is along the lines of 34 percent and the Moderna reduction is a more modest one,” Murphy said Friday.
Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said the 20 percent shortage will leave the state without receiving nearly 100,000 doses it expected in December. The state was expecting to receive 273,000 doses of Pfizer, but that’s now down to 183,000 – a 33 percent drop.
In Washington, DC, two senior Trump administration officials told the Associated Press that states will receive their full allocations, but misunderstandings about vaccine supplies and changes to the delivery schedule can create confusion.
An official said the first numbers of available doses provided to states were projections based on information from the manufacturers, not fixed allocations. Some state officials may have misunderstood that, the official said.
Changes to the delivery schedule, at the request of the governors, may add to the false impression that fewer doses are coming, the officials said. The most significant change involves spreading the delivery of states’ weekly allocations over several days to make distribution more manageable.
Murphy began to outline what the state’s vaccination sites will look like in the coming weeks and months. First, the governor says six “mega sites” will open in early January to vaccinate the state’s primary care health workers.
The six locations will be in Bergen County: Meadowlands Complex; Morris County: Rockaway Townsquare Shopping Center; Middlesex County: New Jersey Convention and Exhibition Center; Burlington County: Moorestown Mall: Gloucester County: Rowan College of South Jersey; Atlantic County: Atlantic City Convention Center.
The state is looking at at least 200 total vaccination sites outside of the six “mega sites.” After health professionals, essential workers, and New Jerseyans over age 65 become eligible for the vaccine.
“Demand for the vaccine will outpace supply,” Persichilli said Friday. Vaccines are currently only available to people in the “1A” category, including hospital staff who have direct contact with COVID patients.
Persichilli said 2,149 health workers had received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine by Friday’s briefing. Hospitals remain the only locations where the vaccine is distributed.
Residents and long-term care staff will be eligible for the first dose of the vaccine starting Dec. 28, the health commissioner announced Friday through a partnership with CFS and Walgreens. Persichilli said the vaccines for that group should end in February. New Jersey aims to vaccinate 70% of the state’s adult population, or nearly 5 million people, within six months, she added.