Vaccines to begin at the Witherell
Nursing home patients, staff set to receive inoculations
GREENWICH — The Nathaniel Witherell in Greenwich is set to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, starting the day after Christmas.
The residents of the town-owned and -operated skilled nursing and rehabilitation center are considered high risk and are included in the first phase of the state’s vaccination program.
Vaccinations began last week at Greenwich Hospital, where front-line medical workers received shots of the Pfizer vaccine.
At the Witherell, shots will be administered Dec. 26 and Jan. 4 to all residents and staff members, Board of Directors
Chair Larry Simon said Monday. The second dose will be given Jan. 16 and Jan. 25.
That will cover 153 patients at Witherell and 247 full- and parttime workers. Vaccinating the staff is considered critical, particularly because many of them work at multiple facilities and could carry the virus, Simon said.
The vaccination program is coordinated by the state Department of Public Health, he said. CVS will be administering the shots on all four days.
“CVS is bringing everything, and it should not take that long to do it,” Simon said.
As of Monday, there were no active coronavirus cases among the residents at the Witherell, where visits have been curtailed for much of the pandemic, he said.
“If you get everyone vaccinated, we don’t have to worry about patients getting infected and we don’t have to worry about staff being infected,” Simon said. “Then you’ve solved the visitation problem. You will have solved the isolation problem. You will have solved the cross-contamination problem of people coming from one nursing home to another. … This is going to make a big difference.”
Program expands to more facilities
At Greenwich Woods, residents and staff will be vaccinated on Jan. 6, with the second shot on Jan. 27, Administrator Carla Dunford said.
CVS will provide upwards of 200 shots both days, depending on how many staff members get vaccinated.
“This is something that’s extremely important,” Dunford said. “We hope everyone does get vaccinated to keep our residents safe.”
On Monday, a vaccination clinic was held at Edgehill, a private skilled nursing facility, and other facilities in the city will follow suit in the coming days and weeks.
The Villa at Stamford was assigned Jan. 6 and Jan. 27 as the dates for vaccinations said, Peter Showstead, the facility’s administrator. They are prepared to administer 280 shots through CVS, he said. But Showstead stressed that the vaccines are voluntary and everyone must give their consent to get a shot.
“This is hugely important,” Showstead said. “We’re putting trust in the science, and if the vaccine is good it can have a lot of benefit. We wouldn’t do this without the Department of Public Health guidance.”
Second vaccine to arrive
A second coronavirus vaccine, this one from Moderna, has also arrived in Connecticut with further distribution expected this week.
The Moderna vaccine will be made available at Stamford Hospital, said Dr. Michael Parry, the head of infectious diseases. It will join the Pfizer vaccine, of which the hospital is expecting more doses on Tuesday, as part of the ongoing Phase 1A vaccinations.
“We will be blending the Moderna vaccine in our first and ultimately our second offerings,” Parry said. “Some will be getting Pfizer. Some will be getting Moderna. It depends on the supply of vaccine we get from the manufacturers and the demand, of course. We expect demand to exceed supply.”
Greenwich Hospital said Yale New Haven Health System, of which it is a part, will receive shipments of both vaccines this week and will continue to vaccinate its staff members. More Pfizer vaccine was expected Monday, with the Moderna vaccine arriving Tuesday.
From a medical perspective, Parry said he believed the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are “about the same.”
Greenwich Communities, which oversees several senior residences in town, has not been contacted about the vaccines, said Executive Director Anthony Johnson.
Those residents are not in the same high a risk category as those living at Witherell and other nursing home facilities.