Governor Phil Murphy this afternoon announce that effective April 19th all New Jerseyans ages 16 and above will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, 12 days ahead of schedule.

“We believe this is the right time to put our program into higher gear,” Murphy told reporters at the War Memorial in Trenton.

“We’re not suggesting everyone who wants one gets one, but we… [want to make this available],” said Murphy.

His original target date to open up vaccinations was May 1st.

He reviewed.

So far, 1,796,798 New Jerseyans have received a second COVID shot, according to the governor.

On March 5th, 789,500 New Jerseyans had received the vaccine, and over the past month, 1 million more people received a second dose.

As of right now, the following people are eligible:

“We have roughly three million people to go to meet our initial goal,” said Murphy. “We have made the vaccines more accessible.”

The governor said that since the start of the pandemic last year, 22,081 New Jerseyans have died from complications due to COVID-19.

Murphy reported 15 additional deaths today since his last War Memorial report last week.