Gov. Phil Murphy and state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli say that New Jersey is well on its way to meeting its goal of having 4.7 million people vaccinated for COVID-19 by the end of June.

But there are those on the front lines of the vaccine rollout who say that they are not as confident. They say that they are seeing a decrease in vaccine demand, and even people not showing up for their appointments.

“It’s not demoralizing as much as it is worrisome,” says Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco.

Tedesco says that he is meeting with his team to plan out how to entice more people to get the vaccine. There is even talk of paying people.

“You’ve got to be creative and maybe try to help people understand why they should come here and if we can incentive to do a little of that help, then I’m not saying that that’s off the table,” he says.

Tedesco says that he fears that the Johnson & Johnson scare alienated those who are on the fence about getting a vaccine.

The issue of vaccine hesitancy is seen across New Jersey. The Ocean County Health Department is also seeing an issue.

In an email obtained by News 12 New Jersey, staff have been told that there is a significant downturn in vaccine interest across all its sites – down by about 60%. The email also stated that there is an average of 125 no-shows per day. And at last check, there were only 300 total appointments for the week, so the county is scaling back.

But the governor remains confident that New Jersey will meet its goal.

“First of all, someone used the word ‘plummet’ which is just not the right verb,” he said.

Murphy described the demand as being off and said that he will share how the state will deal with that in the coming days.

Half of Bergen County has received at least one dose of the vaccine. Tedesco says that the goal is 70%, which he sees as a big jump.

“The 70% was a threshold that was going to be easily attained. Sitting here today, I sure hope so, but I have some doubts,” Tedesco says.

Tedesco says that the county may offer walk-in appointments. He says that the county will ask for more doses of the Pfizer vaccine for residents who are 16 years old and older. He says that he hopes 16 and 17-year-olds will show up for the vaccine.