Health workers get 2nd vaccine dose

Governor touts Connecticut COVID-19 inoculation rollout

Three weeks after the first health care workers in Connecticut received the first round of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the second doses began Monday amid concerns over the vaccine rollout.

Efforts to distribute the vaccine have hit supply snags elsewhere in the country.

In Florida, for example, seniors formed long lines and in some cases camped out overnight hoping to get inoculated against the virus, the Associated Press reported.

Connecticut reached 75,180 people vaccinated, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday — health care workers, medical first responders

and nursing home residents — making the state one of the first eight in the nation to vaccinate 2 percent of its population. The state has received about 167,000 doses, he said.

Lamont and members of his administration downplayed concerns about the rollout, including decisions about which groups will be next to receive doses. Most of the states with 2 percent completed have smaller populations, the governor pointed out.

“For us it’s a little more complicated as a very dense state with a lot of people,” Lamont said during his regular news briefing from the Capitol. “To date, working with hospitals and working with nursing homes, we’ve had pretty good success.”

Positive rate down, hospitalizations up

On Monday, New York officials announced the first case of a more infectious variant of the virus first identified in the United Kingdom. It was found in a man in his 60s who works in Saratoga Springs, the Associated Press reported. Connecticut has not seen a case of that strain, which is more contagious, but the acting commissioner of public health said she would not be surprised when it happens.

State health officials reported 4,516 new cases of the disease Monday. The positivity rate among 85,344 new tests stood at 5.3 percent for Sunday and Monday. That continues a recent downward trend and brings the 7-day average to 6.6 percent of tests showing COVID-19 — lower than surrounding states.

A net 55 more patients were in hospitals with COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 1,111. Another 69 fatalities attributed to the illness brought the statewide death toll to 6,168, two days after Connecticut passed the 6,000death threshold.

Vaccinations were also set to begin at assisted living facilities Monday, Lamont said. Vaccinations at long-term care locations are done by CVS and Walgreens.

State officials did not have a count of nursing home residents and staff who had received the vaccines, nor of those who declined to take it. Around the state, more than 85 sites are now administering the vaccines, with pharmacies to be added in the coming weeks.

Lamont said that will make it easier for residents to get the vaccine “on a retail basis.”

Trying to avoid problems

The allocation subcommittee of the governor’s vaccine advisory group plans to meet Tuesday to discuss who will receive the vaccine next after health care workers and nursing homes. To avert problems such as those in Florida, Lamont said Connecticut plans to register people to get their shot online or by phone.

“If we find we do have additional vaccine, we’ll open up the lens a little bit more either in terms of age groups, demographics or other front-line responders to make sure that every drop of that vaccine is administered on a timely basis,” he said. “I don’t want to leave anything to chance and I don’t want to leave anybody behind.”

In Middletown, Mayor Ben Florsheim and 11 other officials were vaccinated Thursday using a dozen doses that would have spoiled otherwise, according to the mayor’s office. The move met with some criticism from a member of the city Common Council who said he believes officials should follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on who is prioritized for the vaccine.

Hartford HealthCare employees led the way Monday morning, getting their second doses during a ceremony at the Connecticut Convention Center. The hospital system gave employees the first round of vaccines 21 days ago.

No side effects

The first Hartford HealthCare employee to roll up his sleeve for a second dose was Keith Grant, senior system director of infection prevention at Hartford Healthcare. Before getting his shot, Grant said he and others believe in the vaccine’s ability to help end the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is what we do believe will ... completely flatten the curve,” he said.

Grant said he had no side effects after getting his first shot, and was eager to get his second. After Grant received his second dose, there was a chorus of cheers and applause from the audience.

Most of the employees vaccinated Monday were from Hartford Hospital, which is part of Hartford HealthCare — as is St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport. There were no St. Vincent’s employees among those getting vaccinated Monday, but the hospital was slated to begin its second round of vaccinations Tuesday morning.

Yale New Haven Hospital spokesman Mark D’Antonio said the hospital’s first five employees to get vaccinated are scheduled to receive their second vaccines starting Tuesday. The second round of vaccination will continue through this week, he said.

Stamford Hospital employees also are expected to start receiving their second doses of vaccine this week.

According to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker, about 4.33 million doses had been administered in the United States as of Sunday night.

Smaller state, easier task?

In the Hartford HealthCare system, about 13,500 people had been vaccinated as of Sunday said Eric Arlia, system director of pharmacy for Hartford HealthCare. He said he expects vaccinations to increase now that the holidays are over.

Michael Urban, director of occupational therapy at the University of New Haven said Connecticut is in a better position to distribute vaccine efficiently than other states.

“Our state is state very small compared to other states and, within Connecticut we have two large organizations that employ a large number of the health care workers,” he said, referring to Yale New Haven Health and Hartford HealthCare.

He also mentioned that “other states have not been able to distribute their vaccines as efficiently, due to poor state planning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole.”

“The country has not had a clear direction [throughout] this whole pandemic, thus each state has been left to their own agenda,” Urban said. “We have seen regions in the South and [Midwest] to be slower to adopt many of the practices that the Northeast and West Coast have implemented.”