Coronavirus Vaccine Availability To Expand To NJ Teachers

NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday that he's expanding COVID-19 vaccine availability to teachers. He announced that other groups will soon be eligible, too.

Murphy made the announcement on Twitter early Monday. Starting March 15, the following essential workers will be eligible:

• Pre-K to 12 educators and support staff
• Child care workers
• Transportation workers
• Additional public safety workers

Later Monday, Murphy also announced during his news conference that food workers and many other groups will be eligible, too, beginning on March 29th. Read more: More NJ COVID Vaccine Expansion: Clergy, Food Workers And More

Murphy made the teacher immunization announcement on MSNBC, saying vaccines will be expanding in "phases" to essential workers, and at the head of that list will be teachers.

"Protecting our kids, getting them the best education possible, helping moms and dads cover this extraordinary stressful period of having to work, in many cases, from home and (have) kids that are in the school systems that may not be in person — it's an imperative of ours to get school and get that back up on its feet," Murphy said on MSNBC.

Read more: Where To Get The Coronavirus Vaccine In New Jersey

Murphy made the announcement as he's facing mounting pressure to provide vaccines to teachers so children can return to the classroom.

Some school districts have stayed remote, while others follow a hybrid model. Both models, however, remain controversial and have inspired demands to reopen the schools now that vaccines are available. Read more: Maplewood Parents Ready To Rally As School Reopening On Hold

Murphy hedged when asked if he would use vaccine availability as a reason to encourage — if not order — teachers back into the classroom.

During a recent news conference, Murphy said he realizes the situation is "incredibly stressful for everybody, for parents, kids, educators, administrators, period, full stop."

Murphy said he doesn't have an update on the guidelines, but he did note that more than three-quarters of instruction has some amount of in-person "and that number is continuing to go up."

Some of the bigger, older school districts that work out of antiquated buildings — with poor ventilation — are not in-person, Murphy acknowledged.

"My guess is (if) a combination of these numbers and realities continue to go in the right direction, a month or two from now — just to go out a little bit — you're in a completely different ballgame as it relates to school," he said. Read more: NJ Expands COVID Vaccine Call Center As CVS Adds Sites

New Jersey officials say they're also addressing the continued complaints with the state's COVID-19 vaccine system by expanding its vaccine call center and hiring more people to help make appointments.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said she was informed this weekend that there are 80 operators who have been fully trained to make appointments, but that number will be scaling up over the next few weeks.

Persichilli, speaking during Murphy's Friday news conference, said the call center is expanding the number of vaccine site appointments that can be scheduled through the system. The call center will place a special focus on contacting those older than 75 who are preregistered in the vaccination system.

The call center has been operational for more than a month at 855-568-0545, but it has been plagued by complaints that people have been turned away, they've been cut off or they've been placed on hold for a long time.

Murphy believes the vaccination program is on an upswing, with 2 million doses administered as of Sunday. This count includes 1.295 million first doses and just under 662,000 second doses.

Murphy and Persichilli hope that the number of sites and availability will greatly expand now that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. Read more: NJ Expects Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Doses By Next Week

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