NJ governor calls criticism that smokers are vaccinated against others a ‘false story’

During a coronavirus briefing on Friday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy spoke out against the “false narrative” that smokers were receiving the COVID-19 vaccine compared to other essential workers.

As NJ Advanced Media reported, the Garden State has expanded its vaccination program to also include 2 million smokers aged 16 to 64. The expansion has enabled people in this age group with pre-existing conditions such as cancer, advanced kidney disease and more. The expansion makes an estimated 4.47 million people, roughly half of the state’s population, eligible for vaccination.

Some people have criticized the move, believing that smokers have priority over teachers. CBS New York reported that Teach NJ, part of the Teach Coalition which “advocates[s] for equitable public funding of New Jersey non-public schools, “called on teachers to get ahead of smokers.

Murphy responded to the allegations during a press conference and a Twitter thread. He said the accusations of smokers skipping the line in front of teachers was a deceptive “cheap shot”.

“I have to fend off a false narrative that exists in some circles that we are vaccinating smokers while we are not vaccinating another group, be it our blessing as heroic educators or other incredibly important and heroic essential workers,” he said. he declared. .

In the briefing, Murphy said about 100,000 doses of the vaccine were brought to the state each week and that providing the vaccine to high-risk residents was a priority, and that the decision was in line with CDC guidelines.

“We cannot lose sight of a critical medical fact that this is a respiratory virus. Our goal from day one has been to fight to save all possible lives and to make our decisions based on facts, science, medicine. It’s a simple fact, whether we like it or not, that smoking like other chronic and medical conditions puts a person at a higher risk of a more serious case of COVID, ”he said.

He also noted that by providing vaccines to those at risk, it was an attempt to avoid hospitalization of people, as the coronavirus is a respiratory disease.

“I understand the perspective here and that people who used to smoke and are now addicted may be politically expedient to attack. But right now we’re stuck in a position where we need to prioritize limited federal production. least distributed – vaccine doses are based on medical evidence, not political will. We have to save lives and we have to protect our hospitals, by the way, from a surge of patients, ”he said.

Murphy also noted that teachers are included in expanded vaccine eligibility, as are transit workers, grocery store workers and other frontline workers.

As previously reported, the nationwide rollout of the COVID vaccine has been criticized and viewed as “extremely poor” with few exceptions. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to distribute 100 million snaps within the first 100 days.

Newsweek contacted the governor’s office for comment.