TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy wouldn’t shed any color on the topic, but the woman to his left, who knows no introduction might have let the cat out of the bag. New Jersey had hoped to start providing COVID-19 vaccinations to its most devastated demographic during the virus pandemic, those elderly patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities by December 21st.
According to the Trump administration overseeing the distribution of the vaccine, the could have happened. Except somebody filed the paperwork a day too late.
That person needs no introduction. Her name is Judith Persichili. You might remember her from a March memo that ordered COVID-19 positive patients into senior living facilities that ended up killing an estimated 7,000 senior citizens statewide. You might not.
“In order to start on the 21st, there was a deadline of the 7th for inputting all the registered skilled nursing facilities, long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities, of which we have over 650, we missed that date by a day,” she admitted on Friday. “We asked to start on the 21st and they said no, you will start on the 28th.”
That one week delay could prove deadly.
On December 15th, there were 131 reported COVID-19 deaths. A one week delay could end up killing hundreds more senior citizens. For now, grandma and grandpa will have to wait another week until they get their vaccines.