Here's Who May Get COVID Vaccine Next, And Where, In NJ

NEW JERSEY – Expect to see COVID-19 vaccination sites popping up across the state very soon – including at your local ShopRite or doctor's office – as New Jersey is putting together a plan for who gets the vaccine next.

There will be more than 200 community COVID vaccine sites across New Jersey; 134 of those sites will be getting the vaccine this week, State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli announced Monday. There will be 21 county sites, plus the six vaccine "mega-sites," which are:

• Atlantic County: Atlantic City Convention Center
• Bergen County: Racetrack at Meadowlands, East Rutherford
• Burlington County: Moorestown Mall
• Gloucester County: Rowan College of South Jersey, Sewell
• Middlesex County: New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center, Edison
• Morris County: Rockaway Townsquare Mall

Those six sites are scheduled to start opening in early January. There will also be 36 sites known as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). That list has not been made public yet, but towns such as Hoboken and Secaucus have already announced they will have town vaccination sites.

The pharmacy departments at 38 ShopRites across New Jersey will also have the vaccine (which specific ShopRites have not been revealed).

And 26 doctor's offices/urgent care locations will have the vaccine on hand (locations have not been made public); Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine will operate a site as well.

On Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy urged patience, and said even he and Persichilli have not received the vaccine yet. Read more: No COVID-19 Vaccine For NJ Governor Phil Murphy — For Now

"We want healthcare workers, long-term care residents, staff ... There is a reason for that priority and with all due respect, folks like us are not on that list," said the governor.

"There's an enormous supply and demand imbalance right now," he continued, also pointing to New Jersey-ites who have medical conditions, and those who are simply older than he is.

"I just can't justify it," said the governor, of going first.

He cautioned New Jersey residents to wait their turn in line.

"The mega sites will be up and running by the end of January, but they will exist for the populations who are 'up to bat' at that time," said Murphy. "So if it's January 15 and we are still in 1A healthcare workers, then it's 1A healthcare workers."

Right now, New Jersey is vaccinating the 1A group, which includes healthcare workers and long-term care residents and staff.

Category 1B is next. People who fall into Category 1B include those 75 and older as well as front-line essential workers. Essential workers include grocery store workers and UPS, FedEx and Amazon delivery drivers and other delivery drivers, such as truckers.

The next category of individuals, Category 1C, are adults 65 and over and adults with underlying medical conditions.

Persichilli said the state of New Jersey wanted to address that many of these front-line workers are people of color, and also lower-income.

"Once we move through 1A, we will move to 1B and that includes people essential to the functioning of society and are at a substantially higher risk," she said. "New Jersey recognizes that those unable to work from home have the highest exposure risk. Racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately represented in many essential industries. Twenty five percent of New Jersey's essential workers live in low-income communities," she added.

New Jersey officially started its COVID vaccination roll-out on Dec. 15 and since then, 46,217 vaccines have been administered so far, plus more over the Christmas weekend that were not yet counted, said Persichilli.

In total, New Jersey received 405,000 vaccine doses for the month of December. About 120,000 of those are reserved for long-term care facilities, which began vaccinating those in nursing homes on Monday (a week delayed because the state missed a federal application deadline).

New Jersey's goal is to vaccinate 70 percent of the adult population – or 4.7 million adults – within six months.

So far, 280,000 vaccine doses went to hospitals and the remainder will go to community vaccine sites.

New Jersey is administering both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine, the only two vaccines so far to be approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

Related: New Jersey Starts Nursing Home COVID Vaccines Monday (Dec. 28)