General registration to receive the COVID-19 vaccine began in New Jersey last week, and already about 20 percent of the state has signed up.

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Last Wednesday (Jan. 6) the website covid-19.nj.gov opened up the vaccine registration process. My husband texted me pretty early that morning to tell me he had already sign up, and that I should as well. Well, I waited until way later that night, and was worried the site would have crashed by the time I visited. But I was able to get right on, entered some information, and answered a brief questionnaire. It took less than 10 minutes.

Afterwards, I received an email confirmation from the NJ Department of Health that my request was received and that I was placed in the 1C category. There was no indication within that email as to when the vaccine will be offered to me or where I'll need to go to get it. Healthcare and frontline workers are eligible to receive the COVID vaccine first, then first responder, a portion of the elderly and immunocompromised population, and so on (see below).

  • 1a - Health care workers, longterm care and other congregant living settings.
  • 1b - Critical and essential workers like police and firefighters, along with those over 75 years old.
  • 1c - Individuals between the ages of 16 and 64 with high-risk conditions and other adults aged 65 to 75.
  • 2 - The general population.

NJ.com reported the website did experience some technical difficulties, which were short-lived. New Jersey is home to 4.7 million residents, so over a million COVID-19 vaccine registrants in under a week is pretty good, especially since I've talked to a lot of my own friends and listeners who are resistant to getting it.

To register to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, visit covid-19.nj.gov.

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