Gov. Phil Murphy made the announcement Monday.
Murphy says the expansion comes two weeks ahead
of plan and added that it’s the “right time to put our program into higher
gear.”
The announcement came the same day that people
55 and older, as well as people in other jobs categories, became eligible for
the vaccine.
The announcement also comes
as more cases are appearing in younger people, in particular, some experts are
concerned about rising cases of the U.K. variant in younger children.
Pediatricians in New Jersey
say we shouldn't be too surprised because those cases are going up in every age
category, since the strain is very contagious.
But many local pediatricians
say they have not seen that in kids in the state.
"I believe personally, I
think schools are doing a pretty good job here in NJ implementing distancing
and masking, which again is very helpful,” says Dr. Anma Husain. “Especially because our young
children don't qualify now for vaccines."
Dr. Husain says it's too
soon to consider vaccinating the younger kids. Studies are being done on all age groups, but
she says so far, only one vaccine has proven effective on adolescent kids.
Murphy has promised to get 70% of the state’s
adult population, or 4.7 million people, vaccinated by the end of June.
AP wire services helped contribute to this report.