MORRISTOWN, NJ – Senior citizens in New Jersey’s senior nursing home communities and assisted living facilities will have to wait until the end of the month to get vaccinated because of a clerical blunder made by the Murphy administration. Health Commission Judith Persichilli missed a filing deadline by one day that would have had enough vaccines to begin vaccinating senior citizens on Monday, December 21st. Now, because of that delay, they will have to wait until December 28th. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie slammed Murphy and Persichilli.
“What could be more important for state government to be doing than starting vaccination of our elderly, 7,100 who have already died, on the first day? This is the biggest fail of the COVID response in New Jersey. There must be a better explanation than we missed it by a day,” Christie said.
“In order to start on the 21st, there was a deadline of the 7th for the input of 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, and we asked to be able to start on the 21st and they said no, you’ll start on the 28th,” Persichilli told reporters. “It’s as simple as that.”
Former New Jersey Republican GOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt also blasted Murphy and Persichilli.
“Over 7,100 senior citizens have died already due to Governor Murphy’s impotent COVID response,” Steinhardt said. “How many more residents did Phil Murphy expose to infection because his Health Department couldn’t complete paperwork on time?
Steinhardt is now running for governor of New Jersey against Phil Murphy.