New Jersey Covid Vaccine Distribution

President Biden has a hefty goal, stating that he wants “100 million vaccines in his first 100 days in office.” The goal is that 70%-80% of people will be vaccinated by the upcoming summer. Once Biden entered office, he began building on the Trump administrations original approach. Due to the fact that there were not strict federal guidelines, most states have different timelines and procedures to decide the order of people getting vaccinated.
According to the Official State of New Jersey website, New Jersey’s estimated time line started with group 1a which is considered the frontline workers who may have direct exposure to the virus. These are healthcare workers in all different fields requiring them to work with all sorts of patients. This includes: licenced health care professionals, EMS, Paramedics, funeral staff, autopsy workers, staff who work at health care facilities, unpaid workers at health care facilities, community health workers, pharmacy workers, elder home facility workers, private practices, hospice workers, psychiatric facilities, supportive housing for elderly, veteran homes, and skilled nursing facilities. 

The second group, 1b, consists of all state law enforcement, firefighters and other first responders. The next group is people who are more high risk due to disease or age. In this list type 2 diabetes is listed. However, many people with type 1 diabetes have complained that statistically they are at equal or even more risk but they are not in the 1b group for getting their vaccination. 

After all these individuals receive their vaccinations, the vaccinations will begin to go to the general public in phase 2. 

In some states they are already running low on their supply. In New York, many facilities are running low or are out of vaccines. This is due to the lack of centralization coming from the Federal government with the Trump administration. The Biden administration has asked the CDC to look into what their options are.