Coronavirus vaccinations for New Jersey long-term care residents and workers will start a week later than most states after state officials missed a key federal deadline.
New Jersey’s Department of Health missed the deadline that required the state to submit information on all of its registered long-term care facilities by Dec. 7 in order for the state to start this week with the federal vaccination program administered by CVS Health and Walgreens.
Officials missed that deadline by a day because of the “volume of information that had to be inputted,” according to State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli.
“We asked to start on the 21st and they said, no, you will start on the 28th,” Persichilli said during a press conference Friday.
Following the state’s missed deadline, the Health Care Association of New Jersey told local media that “nursing home residents and staff are looking forward to the start of this important immunization program, and are coordinating with CVS and Walgreens to maximize success.”
New Jersey Senate minority leader Tom Kean Jr. (R) called the delay “unbelievable and totally unacceptable.”
“After more than 7,100 lives were lost in New Jersey’s nursing homes and veterans homes, you would think the [Gov. Phil] Murphy (D) administration would waste no effort to ensure that the remaining residents would be vaccinated as quickly as possible,” Kean said.
“Instead, those vulnerable seniors, our parents and grandparents, will remain at risk even longer over the administration’s failure to file simple paperwork on time,” he added.
