On the anniversary of the first COVID-19 case reported in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy feels confident the state will reach in a short term a dramatically different stage of its battle to vaccinate the population.
Murphy´s confidence is based on the introduction of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week and the announcement that fellow New Jersey company Merck will help produce it fast.
You can read: New Jersey has a vaccine phone line for answering questions
The Governor is predicting that by the beginning of April, New Jersey finally will be in a “quantumly different place.” “I think, if you get to the last week of March or first week of April, I believe the supplies from Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna are going to explode,” he said. “We will be in a dramatically, quantumly different place.”
Murphy spoke Wednesday about this stage he foresees with optimism. The increasing number of vaccinations should start to reduce the number of people hospitalized and the rate of transmission.
Worst days are over
He noted one of the worst days of the past year: April 15, when 8,270 were in the hospital, with a near-record 1,980 in intensive care and 1,705 on ventilators. In contrast, today, there are 1,921 hospitalized, 395 of whom are in the ICU, 228 of whom are on ventilators.
According to 6abc.com report, so far about 2.2 million people have had at least one shot of the two-shot vaccines currently being administered, with roughly 740,000 people fully vaccinated. That’s just over 8% of the state’s population and slightly better than the national 7.9% of people who have been vaccinated, as informed by the CDC.
The new stage is an achievement that involves the state’s residents. Murphy thanked for their collaboration in reducing the number of cases. “Thank you for being models for your families and communities. Thank you for showing that, when we fight COVID together, we can beat it together. Thank you for being real patriots by simply doing what needs to be done in these unprecedented circumstances.”
Noticias Newswire
