NJ Prepares To Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine: 'We Will Be Ready'

NEW JERSEY - Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE's mRNA-based vaccine candidatehas demonstrated evidence of efficacy against COVID-19 in participants, and New Jersey is deep in preparations for its possible distribution.

Here in the Garden State, where a second wave of infections has seen daily positive cases escalate to the highest levels since March and April, Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli's task force has been preparing for the "equitable" distribution of an approved vaccine for months.

"We will be ready," Gov. Phil Murphy said, noting in October that the planning for a vaccine distribution began back in March.

Murphy said officials are tackling the pandemic in the short term, but they are looking at the long term. Officials said that their plan will be submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and will call for 81,000 vaccinations a day in New Jersey, five days a week, and has an "all-government" distribution approach.

Persichilli said the first phase of the vaccinations are expected to be limited to healthcare workers.

The plan, as it currently stands, has several strategic aims:

• Vaccinate 70 percent of the adult population within 6 months
• Provide equitable access to a vaccine
• Achieve maximum community protection
• Build public trust

The overall goal in New Jersey is to vaccinate 4.7 million people, with health care workers being first. That would equate to somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 people a day.

In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, the study was split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo indicates a vaccine efficacy rate above 90 percent, at 7 days after the second dose. This means that protection is achieved 28 days after the initiation of the vaccination, which consists of a 2-dose schedule.

Persichilli said they have 500,000 people listed as high priority healthcare workers and that New Jersey is initially expected to receive 100,000 doses of vaccine. Which, because two doses are required, would mean initially 50,000 people protected.

But there may be another wrinkle in the distribution. Persichilli told 60 Minutes that out of a survey of 2,000 physicians and nurses that over 60 percent of the physicians said that they would get the vaccine but only 40 percent of the nurses said that they would line up to get the vaccine.

Nurses I guess are skeptical," Persichilli said. "There is a lot of vaccine hesitancy."

Pfizer released a statement:

“Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent COVID-19,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said. “We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen. With today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis. We look forward to sharing additional efficacy and safety data generated from thousands of participants in the coming weeks.”

Officials said this is the first in three critical areas where Pfizer must demonstrate success:

• Evidence of efficacy in most vaccinated patients
• Evidence of safety w/ data from thousands of patients
• Manufactured consistently at the highest quality standards

On Monday, during Murphy's COVID-19 briefing, Persichilli said that many of the survey respondents said they would take a vaccine in the second round of distribution and after they see more information on the science behind it.

Murphy said that part of reaching that maximum community protection would be having 70 percent of the adult population immunized, but a big stumbling block to that goal is additional federal money - as much as $8.1 billion.

Murphy said Congress will have to step in and help.

"If we don't receive additional federal funds achieving a 70 percent vaccination rate will take many years if it even happens at all," Murphy said.

For their part, along with the efficacy data generated from the clinical trial, Pfizer and BioNTech said in a release are working to prepare the necessary safety and manufacturing data to submit to the FDA to demonstrate the safety and quality of the vaccine product produced.

Based on current projections the companies expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

"The good news is that a vaccine is on the horizon – we anticipate broad distribution by this spring. We have a plan ready should that timeframe hold," Murphy said Monday. "Let’s get through the remainder of this fall and winter together."

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