You can now access your COVID vaccination record in NJ via a mobile app

New Jerseyans can give up transportation coronavirus immunization cards now that the state’s health department has introduced a free app that residents can use to access their immunization records, officials said Monday.

The Docket app, which officials say is secure, is available in Apple and Google Play app stores, Gov. Phil murphy said Monday at his latest COVID-19 briefing in Trenton.

Murphy insisted it was not a so-called vaccination passport, which are documents that show you are vaccinated and thus allow you to enter certain places.

“To be absolutely clear, this is not a passport,” said the Democratic governor. “Docket is only intended to give residents easy access to their COVID vaccination record, especially if their vaccination card has been damaged or lost.”

But Republicans warned the application was “the first steps” for vaccine passports in New Jersey.

“An application that stores our vaccination records? It looks like a passport to us, ”the state’s Republican Party said in a statement on Monday.

Companies or sites may require you to provide an immunization pass to enter New Jersey, but the state does not require it.

Murphy said he was not against vaccine passports, although he was not yet for them.

“I’m not hell, no,” he said on Monday, “but we continue to need to make more progress on the equity front. Progress is underway. … But especially in black and brown communities, we are not yet where we need to be. And I keep believing until we are and until we’ve given her everything we’ve got and everyone has had fair access to the vaccine, while I’m open-minded, I don’t think the time is right.

State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said the app works for people vaccinated in New Jersey who have their email address or phone number on file with the state system .

Officials did not report the cost of the app.

Murphy also said the app is currently limited to your COVID-19 vaccination record, but will be expanded to include your entire state immunization information system record.

Republicans have also warned about this.

“Governor Murphy owes us more of an explanation than just a slide in his briefing,” the state party said.

New Jersey has one of the best immunization rates in the country, with more than 5.11 million people living, working, or studying here fully immunized. The state’s vaccination rate, however, has slowed in recent months, and about four million people here have not received their vaccines.

The Garden State, an early coronavirus hotspot and hotbed of most COVID-19 deaths per capita in the United States, saw its daily numbers drop to some of the lowest levels in the past 16 months. But newly confirmed cases have increased in recent days as officials continue to warn of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus. Officials say those who are not vaccinated lead recent cases and remain most at risk.

The State Monday reported 227 other confirmed cases and four additional deaths.

Our journalism needs your support. Please register today at NJ.com.

Brent Johnson can be reached at [email protected].