CT vaccination program advances
Officials: No sign potential shortage will affect Conn.
As some governors criticized the Trump administration Friday for a potential shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, Connecticut officials said they have no “indication” next week’s shipment here will be affected.
The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said earlier this week that the federal government would stop holding back a reserve of second vaccine doses in an effort to speed up the distribution.
But in a tweet Friday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said she had been informed by the head of Operation Warp Speed that “states will not be receiving increased shipments of vaccines from the national stockpile next
week, because there is no federal reserve of doses.”
In subsequent tweets, Brown characterized the news as “deception on a national scale,” and said she was “demanding answers from the Trump administration.”
The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond Friday to a list of questions sent by Hearst Connecticut Media about the potential impact on Connecticut.
On Thursday, Gov. Ned Lamont said Connecticut would receive an additional 50,000 doses of the vaccine, which a spokeswoman for Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe later confirmed would come out of the national stockpile.
The state has been receiving around 46,000 doses of vaccine from the federal government each week, so a boost of 50,000 doses would be roughly equivalent to one week’s supply, according to the governor.
Lora Rae Anderson, Geballe’s spokeswoman, said Friday there was no “communication or indication,”
Connecticut’s allotment of vaccine had changed.
Numbers from the state Department of Public Health show Connecticut is projected to receive 96,125 doses next week.
Maura Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for DPH, said those numbers include 50,000 doses from Operation Warp Speed, and allocation of “excess” vaccine that would have been administered at long-term care facilities.
Connecticut has remained among the nation’s leaders, administering the most COVID-19 vaccines per capita in the Northeast, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC has added a vaccination tracker to its website. Overall, more than 31 million doses have been distributed nationwide. Less than half — a little more than 12 million — have been administered to patients, according to the CDC’s data.
In Connecticut, vaccine sites began administering the shots this week to those 75 and older who are not living in nursing homes.
As of Thursday, 171,035 doses of vaccine had been administered in Connecticut, Lamont’s office said. Of those, 154,994 people have received their first dose and 16,041 have received their final dose.
The vaccination efforts come as Connecticut recorded 1,878 new COVID-19 cases on Friday. The new cases were found among 30,303 tests for a daily positivity rate of 6.2 percent.
Hospitalizations continued to decline with 20 fewer patients, dropping the statewide total to 1,098. However, 41 more deaths attributed to the disease were recorded Friday, increasing the death toll to 6,594.
Yale New Haven Health announced Friday it would open vaccine clinics to those 75 and older beginning next Wednesday.
Sites will open in North Haven, New London, Old Saybrook and Trumbull, with a site in Greenwich opening the week of Jan. 25. More are expected to open in the future.
Health care providers are also expected to begin reaching out directly to their patients. Some hospital systems are also scheduling vaccinations directly through their websites. UConn Health and Hartford Health Care have prominent links on their websites where patients can register.
The state has announced three options for seniors to register for a vaccination appointment.
Residents can apply through the state website to access the Vaccine Administration Management System, a federal portal. That option requires users to have an active email address.
Those without access to a computer can also call 877-918-2224 to schedule an appointment. State officials have warned the phone system is experiencing delays due to a high call volume.