Town providers are ready to do more shots
GREENWICH — As Connecticut plans to dramatically accelerate its vaccine roll-out plan, providers in Greenwich say they are prepared to meet the new demand.
That, however, is provided the state follows through on its pledge to roll out more vaccines to local sites where the shots are given.
According to Gov. Ned Lamont, vaccine eligibility will begin this week for a new category, and in April, it will include everyone, nearly a month ahead of schedule.
In a two-step process, the state will first open eligibility to those age 45 to 54 — about 480,000 residents — on Friday, three days ahead of schedule. The second step will open vaccine appointments April 5 to everyone age 16 to 44 — a group that includes about 1.3 million people.
Officials at Greenwich Hospital, which operates the vaccine program at Brunswick School, said they are poised to handle the large new cohort expected to take advantage of the enhanced supply. The hospital has been typically administering anywhere between 400 to 800 doses every day, based on what they receive from the state.
“Yale New Haven Health is working closely with the State of Connecticut on getting more vaccine,” said Greenwich Hospital President Diane Kelly, adding that the hospital is ready to meet the challenge posed by a higher number of potential vaccine recipients.
“Greenwich Hospital is ready. We have the capability to operate seven days a week. We base our clinic schedule on vaccine supply,” Kelly said.
When the state added the 55 to 64 cohort to the vaccine rolls, many people complained about difficulties to sign up for open slots.
Yale New Haven Health, which includes Greenwich Hospital, opted not to used the national Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) and instead directed people to their own website to arrange appointments. Kelly said the scheduling software was working well.
“We have been fortunate that the Yale New Haven Health platform for scheduling vaccine appointments has been very reliable,” the hospital president said.
The Family Centers vaccination clinic at the Eastern Civic Center in Old Greenwich does use the VAMS software to arrange appointments and Heather Dawson, the vaccine coordinator, said the system has been upgraded to facilitate the process.
“VAMS has made a number of improvements over the past few weeks which has helped us during the vaccine visits and with scheduling,” Dawson said.
Family Centers has been administering 200 doses a week, and is ready and able to do more should they gain more supplies, she said.
“We continue to request more doses each week and are optimistic that our allocation will increase,” Dawson said. “We are prepared to administer an increased number of vaccines in the coming weeks.”
Family Centers Chief Health Officer Dennis Torres said Family Centers has been chosen to receive direct shipment of vaccines from the federal government.
“We are planning to take advantage of this opportunity but will not see a shipment until early to mid-April,” he wrote in an email.
By the end of last week, Connecticut had administered vaccines to 29 percent of all residents over the age of 16, most of them 55 and older, health care workers and those living and working in certain congregate settings.