No Nursing Home COVID-19 Vaccines On Monday; NJ Missed Deadline

NEW JERSEY – New Jersey is starting coronavirus vaccinations a week later because officials have admitted to missing the deadline for federal approval.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said this weekend that New Jersey and nursing homes were supposed to submit the paperwork for approval by Dec. 7th so the vaccinations could start by Monday. But they missed the deadline by a day.

Now the vaccinations can't start until Dec. 28th.

"We asked to start on the 21st and they said, 'No, you'll start on the 28th,' " Persichilli said. "It was as simple as that.

Persichilli, speaking during a news conference, said the "sheer volume of information that had to be inputted" caused the state and its 600-plus long-term care facilities, skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities to miss the deadline.

It's not clear if this mishap will delay the state's plans to get 70 percent of the state's adult population vaccinated by April and May. Read more: Here's When NJ May Be 'Back To Normal' – And You'll Be COVID-Free

Gov. Phil Murphy, who said the doses will be administered by CVS and Walgreens, has said that nursing home patients and long-term care residents would be among the first to be vaccinated. Thousands died after the pandemic first hit in March and spread through long-term care facilities.

Murphy and Persichilli addressed the issue at the 38:10 mark:

Murphy said the distribution otherwise has been going "very well" since the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine were administered in Newark on Tuesday – despite New Jersey obtaining fewer doses than anticipated. Read more: Gov. Murphy: NJ Got Short Shrift On COVID Vaccine; Feds Apologize

Murphy was also confident that New Jersey would be able to administer the first doses of the Moderna vaccine once it was approved by the FDA on Friday night and distributed. The governor later said he'll watch the Moderna vaccines be administered on Wednesday.

But Murphy said he expected the distribution is "much smaller relative to the (New Jersey) requirement. We want to get to 70 percent of our adults," which is about 4.7 million.

"The supply-demand imbalance is real and we have to address that as a nation sooner than later," Murphy told CNN.

He's also not pleased that Congress dragged its feet on approving a stimulus bill, one that could ultimately help with the distribution of the vaccine.

"I feel like we need Mo Howard and 'The Three Stooges' to bang heads and get something out of there," he said.

The governor said he hopes to help address that problem by setting up six vaccine "megasites" in January in its effort to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to residents who want them, starting with the state's health care workers and first responders.

The six "megasites" will be spread around the state and will be supplemented by more than 200 satellite vaccination centers in hospitals, urgent care centers and chain pharmacies, state officials said.

"This allows us to put the infrastructure in place to administer the vaccine to every resident who wishes to be vaccinated," Murphy said a Friday news conference.

The goal is to get 70 percent of New Jersey's residents vaccinated within 6 months against the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19. More than 2,000 people a day will be vaccinated at the megasites.

The vaccine megasites, expected to open from mid- January to early February, will accept front-line health care workers first, followed by other essential employees – typically emergency personnel such as police and first aid – and then adults 65 or older and those with high-risk health conditions. Read more: Here's Who Is Getting The COVID-19 Vaccine First In New Jersey

Here are the locations:

• Bergen County: Meadowlands
• Morris County: Rockaway Townsquare Mall
• Middlesex County: New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center
• Burlington County: Mooretown Mall
• Gloucester County: Rowan College of South Jersey

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