Several New Jersey counties with the highest number of vaccinated people are seeing the fewest new COVID-19 cases, according to the Department of Health.
An NJ Advance Media analysis of new cases during the period from August 1 to September 15 showed that those with a lower case number tended to be among those who had higher vaccination rates.
The five counties with the highest vaccination rates combined to add 6.3 new COVID-19 cases per 1,000 people during the period analyzed. The counties with the five lowest vaccinates rates, meanwhile, added 10.1 new cases per 1,000 people — a rate 60% higher.
Morris County has the highest vaccination rate in the state, at 66.5% fully vaccinated. The county’s 5.5 new COVID-19 cases during the period studied were the second-fewest in the state.
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On the other hand, there’s Ocean County, which has the state’s second-lowest vaccination rate — 46.5% — and has added 10.5 cases per 1,000 people in the last month and a half.
Seven of the 10 counties with the highest vaccination rates were also among the 10 with the fewest cases. On the flip side, seven of the 10 least vaccinated counties were also in the top 10 for cases.
On the whole, New Jersey had vaccinated the equivalent of 58.5% of its population as of September 15, a figure that did not account for the large numbers of children who are ineligible for vaccination. There have been 7.3 new cases of COVID-19 for every 1,000 people in the state since August 1.
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Nick Devlin may be reached by email at ndevlin@njadvancemedia.com or on Twitter at @nickdevlin.