This week, New Jersey made millions of people eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including for smokers, a move that led to jumping in front of the inoculation line.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy made people 65 and older and people 16 and older with medical conditions eligible for the vaccine. That started on Thursday. The list of states in New Jersey reflects that of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and includes cancer, kidney disease and other diseases.
Smoking is also listed. Wait. Why?
Here’s a closer look at a question that received headlines this week.
WHY DO YOU SMOKE ON A LIST OF MEDICAL CONDITIONS?
It returns to people who have a “significant risk” of adverse diseases caused by coronavirus. Smokers are included in the group because tobacco inhibits their lungs, and COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, health officials say.
But there are many more.
Murphy and New Jersey Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said the state’s immunization program aims to vaccinate as many people as possible as soon as possible, starting with those most susceptible to severe viral illnesses.
Murphy put it this way: “We can’t be too bureaucratic about this.”
In particular, teachers expressed concern that smokers could receive the vaccine before them.
Don’t divide people into “Job I versus Job B,” the governor said.
WHAT ABOUT OTHER STATES?
New Jersey, like other states, uses the CDC guidelines to determine who is in which category. For example, the cohort of over 65s and those with medical conditions are grouped together. Smokers are included in the CDC guide, so this is not the idea of New Jersey.
But what varies by state is when each group receives the vaccine. New Jersey began with health care workers and nursing home staff and residents, then moved on to first responders, such as police and firefighters.
Seniors and those with medical conditions followed, but other states went in different directions. For example, teachers are eligible in many states as part of what the CDC calls population 1b, including in the vicinity of New York and Pennsylvania, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, but not yet in New Jersey.
What’s wrong with smoking anyway?
Smoking has gone from widespread and fashionable to shrinking and stigmatizing in recent decades, as more information has become known about its dangerous effects on human health. Businesses and governments have cracked down on smoking in the workplace and in restaurants.
In 1998, an agreement between tobacco companies and most states limited marketing and forced companies to pay an annuity to states, forever.
Health insurers also charge additional fees for smokers.
So why, people ask, should someone who started smoking knowingly be on an equal footing with, say, an octogenarian who is also at risk but doesn’t smoke?
The state health department points out that nicotine in tobacco products is addictive and that people who smoke should quit and, if they need help, can get it from njquitline.org.
A BIGGER PROBLEM?
While the addition of smokers to the list of people eligible for vaccination has attracted attention, a bigger problem is at stake: the lack of vaccine supply.
For example, New Jersey currently receives approximately 100,000 doses per week. But it would need about 470,000 a week to meet forecast demand, Persichilli said.
That would be enough to vaccinate 70 percent of the adult population, or 4.7 million people, in about six months, which is the goal of the state.
The governor said: The supply does not meet the demand.