Following recent updates to COVID-19 guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in advance of the upcoming school year, Governor Phil Murphy today signed an executive order lifting the requirement that school districts, child care settings, and state contractors maintain a policy requiring their unvaccinated workers undergo routine testing. The change will apply to school districts and child care settings immediately, and to state contractors as of September 1, 2022.
As of June 17, 2022, anyone aged 6 months or older is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. At this time, more than 18.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in New Jersey, with more than 1.9 million doses having been administered to children under the age of 18.
“Today’s executive order follows guidance from public health officials at the CDC regarding responsible steps states can take as we continue to adjust to the endemic reality of COVID-19,” said Governor Murphy. “With children as young as 6 months old now eligible for vaccines and millions of New Jerseyans vaccinated and boosted, more of our residents are safe from severe illness due to COVID-19. As always, I encourage everyone to stay up-to-date on their vaccination and take other precautions as necessary to protect themselves and their loved ones from this virus.”
This executive order lifts the testing requirements put into place for school districts, child care settings, and state contractors via previous executive order numbers 253, 264, and 271, respectively. Nothing in today’s order prevents these settings from maintaining a vaccination or testing policy as they see fit going forward.
Schools and child care facilities will still be required to report vaccination and testing data to the Department of Health, as per Executive Directive No. 21-011, to allow the State to continue to monitor COVID-19 and make data-driven decisions to keep residents safe.
Covered workers in congregate care, health care, and correctional facility settings will still be required to be up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations, including the first booster dose, as per prior executive orders.
Separate of today’s executive order, the New Jersey state employee testing program will also come to an end on September 1, 2022.