The President of the United States, hopes to provide 150 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office.

The speed of New Jersey’s vaccination program is picking up.  The first vaccination was given December 15th.  29 days later, more than 250 million vaccinations were administered. 10 days later, New Jersey was able to exceed 500,000 administered vaccinations. The fastest increase in pace was the past 16 days.  NJ was able to provide an additional half million vaccines in this time.  100,000 doses were administered in the past 2 days.

Tomorrow and Friday, both CVS and Rite Aid will be receiving direct shipments of vaccines.  Both pharmacies will be making appointments at New Jersey locations.   

Appointments at CVS can be made at cvs.com, on the CVS app or by calling 800-746-7287. Appointments at Rite Aid can be made at Riteaid.com, on the Rite Aid app.  

Through this federal pharmacy partnership CVS will get 19,900 doses and Rite Aid will get 7,500 doses.

The doses provided to CVS and Rite Aid will be in addition to those provided to the state.  Doses will not be taken from the state’s inventory.

Most cancelled second dose vaccination appointments have been rescheduled.   Commissioner Judy Persichilli of the Department of Health has asked those vaccinated to return to the same site for their second dose.  All second doses will be shipped to the same site in which the first dose was received.

The new Johnson & Johnson vaccination should increase the potential for residents to be vaccinated.  The Johnson & Johnson only requires one dose to be administered. It does not have to be kept at the lower temperatures that the Pfizer and Modena vaccines must be stored. Thus the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be more mobile. According to Persichilli , “The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be able to be available closer to where individuals live.”