TRENTON, NJ – When it comes to vaccinating New Jersey residents, Governor Phil Murphy has built it…and they will come. There’s just one problem. The administration of President Joe Biden is still floundering in keeping up with the President’s campaign promise. That promise was that in his first 100 days, 100 million people would be vaccinated.
As of today, just 2.3% of all Americans have received their full vaccinations. At the rate of vaccinations to date, without an increase in doses in New Jersey, the state might not be fully vaccinated until September. Murphy is optimistic that things will change for the better moving forward.
If you’re like most people who have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, you’re probably still waiting for your second. If you’re like most people in New Jersey, you’re probably struggling to find an available appointment or trying to get on a waiting list as most vaccine providers in the state have stopped taking new customers or have a long waiting list.
According to the state of New Jersey, just 179,956 residents out of a total eligible population of 6,000,000 have been fully vaccinated. At this rate, it will take New Jersey until mid-September to be fully vaccinated.
On Friday, Governor Phil Murphy said he has faith in the administration of President Joe Biden, who himself has made bold vaccination promises will get the job done for New Jersey. New Jersey’s vaccine mega-sites have been operating in terms of micro-transactions since they opened.
“Yes, we clearly need more doses. Let there be no doubt about that, folks. The supply is not what it needs to be but the Biden team, I think, are doing a great job moving the needle in the right direction,” Murphy said. “We need those supplies to be able to open more appointment slots and get our mega-sites working to the capacity to which they’ve been built to handle. In fact, our mega-sites alone administered more than 10,000 doses yesterday. That breaks down to over 1,800, on average, at each of the six mega sites.”
“‘I’m showing 925,579 total vaccinations,” Murphy said. “That breaks down first doses/second doses: first doses 745,552, second doses 179,956. I know everyone watches these numbers very carefully, as do we, but let’s make one thing that they show particularly clear. They are not only growing, but the rate of growth is picking up steam.”
Murphy noted that in the past week, the number of initial doses has increased by more than 135,400. That’s a 22% increase week over week. And the number of residents who have now received both doses, whether it be from Moderna or Pfizer’s vaccines, that number has grown by 69,258. That’s a nearly 63% increase in just the past seven days, the governor added.