This means the state will beat its goal of May 1 for universal adult eligibility.
NJ residents 16 & older eligibile for vaccine starting April 19
Other states, including neighboring New York and Connecticut, have already announced earlier eligibility dates.
The news comes as vaccine eligibility expanded Monday to more groups of people, including anyone 55 and older.
People age 16 and older who have intellectual or developmental disabilities are also newly eligible.
Additionally, New Jersey residents who work in higher education, or at libraries, and in real estate are also among a long list of workers who can now book appointments.
Gov. Phil Murphy said the vaccine supply is still an issue, but he believes the time is right to allow even more people to get vaccinated.
Given the trajectory we are on, we believe it is right time to put our program into higher gear," Murphy said.
Murphy said he and his wife will now sign up to get the shot.
"When you add a new group of people, you add, at least temporarily, to the supply demand imbalance," Murphy said. "But I'm confident that the system will hold up well, it had real we had real vendor issues early on, as we've spoken to many times. We had teething pains with the call center. We're largely through that on both fronts. It wasn't a straight line, but we're in a place that we feel good about."
The list of those now eligible in New Jersey includes workers in the following sectors:
- Communications, IT, media, including communications infrastructure support (engineers, technicians) and members of the press
- Laundry services, including workers in laundromats, laundry services, and dry cleaners
- Real estate, building, and home services, including construction workers, code officials, plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, property management, and maintenance workers
- Retail financial institutions, including bank tellers, lending service, public accounting, and check cashing workers.
- Sanitation, including workers providing disinfection and janitorial services for all essential facilities and modes of transportation; city sanitation workers; residential, commercial, and industrial solid and hazardous waste removal.
- Utilities, including electrical generation and supply system, natural gas delivery, nuclear power plant, water supply, telephone, cable/fiber optical/broadband/cellular service workers
- Higher Education, including educators and support staff
- Librarians, including librarians and support staff at municipal, county, and state libraries (i.e. those not included in K-12 announcement)
Murphy also announced Monday fully vaccinated individuals who travel domestically are no longer required to self-quarantine after their trip and get tested before or after travel.
For more information, head to New Jersey's COVID-19 Information Hub.
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