Here's When NJ May Be 'Back To Normal' – And You'll Be COVID-Free

NEW JERSEY –State officials outlined plans this weekend for reaching "herd immunity" in New Jersey – and when you'll likely be safe from COVID-19 once the vaccines are distributed throughout the Garden State.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, speaking in a WCBS880 interview promoted by Gov. Phil Murphy on Twitter, said herd immunity in New Jersey and elsewhere could come as early as the summer of 2021.

The goal is to get 70 percent of New Jersey's residents – or about 4.7 million – vaccinated within 6 months against the coronavirus, Persichilli said during the interview.

If New Jersey can get to 70 percent, she said, the state should reach herd immunity – or "community protection" that effectively "shuts out the virus" from the state's population and stops community spread.

"At the end of the day, I think and I hope by the third or fourth quarter of 2021 (July through December), we will be enjoying a more normal life," Persichilli said.

The vaccines require two shots – and each person should expect to be protected against COVID-19 about six weeks after getting the first shot, she said.

The healtch commissioner noted both companies that produced the vaccine, Pfizer and Moderna, require booster shots; Pfizer's is administered three weeks after the initial shot, while Moderna is four weeks.

Persichilli said the vaccine test trials showed that, within a two-week period of time after the booster shot, "you'll develop enough immunity to prevent you from getting COVID-19."

"So, I would say, six weeks after your first dose, you'll be petty safe, but that does not mean people around you are safe," she said.

To get there, Persichilli said, the vaccine will have to be available in as many towns as possible.

The health commissioner expects that the vaccine will be available in all of New Jersey's 71 hospitals over the next week. But she doesn't expect the vast majority of the population will be vaccinated until April.

And until New Jersey develops herd immunity, people should still wear masks and wash hands, she said.

Murphy is expected to address the vaccines during a 12:30 p.m. news conference on Monday. Read more: WATCH LIVE: Gov. Murphy Issues NJ Coronavirus, Closures Updates

You can listen to Persichilli here (see the details of her conversation below):

Here's what Persichilli also said:

• The Food and Drug Administration helped speed up vaccine usage in New Jersey and elsewhere by approving Moderna, which can be more easily distributed since it can be stored at a higher temperature.
• As a result, over the next week, all of New Jersey's hospitals will have vaccine doses to administer to their health care workers in their hospitals.
• New Jersey expects to get vaccine shipments every Saturday, which can then be distributed to hospitals on Mondays and Tuesdays, weather permitting.
• By January and February, New Jersey hopes to move on from health care workers and administer the vaccine to essential workers with high-risk conditions, such as police officers. She estimated that New Jersey's essential worker population is about 3 million.
• Pregnant women and children are not eligible at this time for the vaccine because they were not included in the trials.
• New Jersey hopes to distribute the vaccines to health care centers, pharmacies and even satellite sites where people can preregister and even drive through to get a shot – similar to what's happening at testing sites.
• Each person must be enrolled in a vaccine registry system so the state can track who got a shot, and when they need to get the booster.
• People may not feel well within 24 hours after getting the shot, but those symptoms should go away quickly. If they don't go away, you should see your doctor.

The first Pfizer shots were administered this past week, and Gov. Phil Murphy told MSNBC on Sunday that he will witness the Moderna vaccine being administered in New Jersey on Wednesday.

"This is the light at the end of the tunnel," Gov. Phil Murphy said, adding that he expects to get 200,000 doses of the vaccine this week alone.

New Jersey already got off to a little bit of a slow start already when it announced that it had to delay vaccinations at nursing homes by a week because it missed a federal deadline for approval. Read more: No Nursing Home COVID-19 Vaccines On Monday; NJ Missed Deadline

Murphy said this weekend that New Jersey is moving the process as quickly as possible – which is why he questioned why the Garden State just found out that it got fewer doses of the coronavirus vaccine than expected from the federal government.

The federal government has since apologized, but Murphy is worried that the additional mishap could also slow the whole process down. Read more: Gov. Murphy: NJ Got Short Shrift On COVID Vaccine; Feds Apologize

The governor said he hopes to address that problem by setting up six vaccine "megasites" by January for residents who want them, starting with the state's health care workers and first responders. Read more: Gov. Murphy: NJ Opening 6 COVID Vaccine 'Megasites:' Here's Where

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