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If people who live or work in New Jersey are still hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Phil Murphy reminded them on Thursday that it won’t cost them money, even if they don’t have to. ‘insurance.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has negotiated an agreement with vaccine suppliers that they would have to accept any covered insurance as payment, Murphy said. And people without insurance would not be billed at all, according to the governor’s statement.
“As we continue to roll out our strong statewide immunization program, we want to make New Jersey people understand that no one will have to pay for the vaccine itself, whether or not it is covered by the vaccine. health insurance, ”Murphy said in a statement Thursday.
“We strongly encourage everyone to join the hundreds of thousands of their compatriots in New Jersey to pre-register to receive the vaccine and take one more step towards ending this pandemic.
Banking and Insurance Commissioner Marlene Caride said her office had issued “guidelines reminding insurance companies of this requirement as the state works to protect the health and safety of our residents in response to the global pandemic ”.
Priority groups in the first phase designated to receive the vaccine include healthcare professionals, nursing home employees and residents, correctional officers and prisoners, and first responders, such as police officers and medical technicians. emergency management. Since December 15, nearly 138,000 shots had been administered.
About 450,000 people signed up on day one of a new state website that pre-registers members of the public for the vaccine when their priority group is called, Murphy said.
The Murphy administration has set a goal of vaccinating 4.7 million, or 70% of the state’s population, within six months. But some people, including hospital staff, expressed concerns early on that the vaccine might not be safe due to how quickly it was approved. State and federal public health professionals stressed that no corners were cut during testing and that the vaccines received the same level of review and testing as any previous vaccine.
There is evidence that public opposition is starting to wane, Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said on Monday. A poll taken at the end of December found that 53% of New Jersey residents “would definitely get” the vaccine, up from 44% in mid-December.
Ed Lifshitz, director of the national communicable disease service, said the threat of the coronavirus far outweighed the risk of someone being injured by the vaccine.
“Let me put it relatively simply,” Lifshitz, a doctor, said during Monday’s coronavirus briefing with the governor. “In New Jersey, we have had about half a million cases of COVID with almost 20,000 deaths. In the United States, we have administered almost 10 times that number of doses or over 4 million doses without any vaccine deaths. I would certainly take my chances with the vaccine against the virus any day of the week.
The pre-registration website is located at covid19.nj.gov/vaccine.
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Susan K. Livio can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.
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