CT books 100K shots in a day
‘Onslaught’ reported on first day of eligibility for all those over age 16
Amid an “onslaught” of new people seeking COVID vaccines, Gov. Ned Lamont said the state saw 100,000 new appointments booked Thursday on the first day all Connecticut adults became eligible.
The frenzy was not a surprise to state officials, who spent much of the past week trying to temper expectations, as 1.3 million people ages 16 to 44 became eligible, but frustrations still ensued with technical hiccups and difficulty finding new ap
pointments.
“I know many of you were there at 12:01 in the morning hitting the refresh button. Be a little bit patient. But right now, the vaccine flow is still continuing,” Lamont said.
Josh Geballe, Lamont’s chief operating officer, said the 100,000 new appointments was “a good start and we will keep going through the next couple weeks.”
The day was not without a few problems. Yale New Haven Health officials said there was an issue early Thursday with its system to book appointments. The state Department of Public Health said callbacks were halted from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday on the vaccine appointment hotline. But by that time, schedules had already been filled.
The rush for vaccines comes as the state’s daily positivity rate remained elevated on Thursday at 4.45 percent with 1,580 new infections reported out of 35,538 tests. While 14 more deaths increased the state’s total to 7,900, a net drop of 21 patients brought COVID-19 hospitalizations back under 500 at 492.
As of Thursday, Connecticut had administered 1.25 million first doses of the vaccine with 733,931 people fully vaccinated. These numbers are expected to rise quickly as supply picks up and the newly eligible find appointments.
Social media was a mix of success and concern as some grabbed appointments through burdened systems, while others said appointments were not available within 100 miles of their homes.
State officials and some providers said the day went smoothly, ironed out over a half-dozen expansions in the 36 weeks since the first health care workers received vaccines.
“Things are going well, we know that there are another million people now in the system. We are asking everyone to be patient,” said Leslie Gianelli, a spokeswoman for Community Health Center, one of several providers running mass vaccination clinics in Connecticut.
With vaccine supply still limited, providers and state officials knew there was no way demand for appointments would be met on Thursday with estimates of 600,000 people eager to get vaccinated out of the 1.3 million who became eligible.
“Now, of course, there are so many people in the system looking for appointments, it’s going to be challenging for some people to get in . ... We know that there is so much more capacity coming online so everyone will get it,” Gianelli said.
Dr. Ohm Deshpande, associate chief clinical officer for Yale New Haven Health, said “there was an onslaught” of people seeking appointments when the system opened early Thursday and 15,000 appointments were scheduled “in a few hours.”
At UConn Health, demand for the vaccine remains high and “appointments are booking very quickly,” said Kimberly Metcalf, associate vice president for pharmacy and ancillary services. However, she said, this was not much different than previous phases of the rollout when appointments quickly filled up on the first day.
When new appointments will come available is no exact science. Many providers operate their own scheduling systems, as do pharmacies, and other providers upload appointments to the state systems, Vaccine Access Management System and Vaccine Appointment Assist Line.
But in a system built to not break promises, providers said they do not open up new appointments until they have vaccines available for the slots. The supply of new vaccine to the state is fluid, and providers have gone to lengths to not cancel appointments because they lacked supply.
“Each day, we confirm the next day’s appointments and if there are cancellations, they are released back out to the community for appointment availability,” Metcalf said. “We are also conservative with opening appointments only when we have confirmation of vaccine availability. This helps to ensure that we do not have any cancellations nor incidents of over-promising vaccine.”
State officials said providers are notified about weekly vaccine allotments after Connecticut receives its projections from the federal government at the end of each week.
“The big increase in appointment will happen when we know how much vaccine for the next week we will be receiving. … We’re constantly watching our schedule and if we can open more appointments, we do,” Deshpande said.
Lamont said the three-week projections of vaccine allotment from the federal government continue to be strong going forward. This week, Connecticut received 240,000 first doses of the vaccine, an all-time high. An issue
with 15 million Johnson & Johnson doses does not affect Connecticut’s supply, Lamont reiterated on Thursday.
Anticipating a substantial influx of new vaccine seekers this week, Hartford HealthCare, which books its own vaccine appointments at clinics across the state, allows people to register to be notified when vaccine appointments are available if all are booked when they log in.
“We now have a process in which you can give us pertinent information, we will then reach out to you when there are vaccines available,” said Dr. James Cardon, Hartford HealthCare’s chief clinical integration officer. “It’s a way for people to not have to keep checking the site.”
He said this has helped manage people’s expectations and frustrations around getting a vaccine. But from other providers, the advice was to keep checking back.
For Kayle Hill, a 24-year-old Waterbury resident who is immunocompromised by medications for her rheumatoid arthritis, the long wait for a vaccine was met with disappointment when she first logged on at midnight and found no appointments.
Hill checked again in the morning when she woke up around 7 a.m., but still found nothing. She pivoted to the appointment hotline, but still had no success. Checking VAMS again, she found an appointment, but not until July 23.
Pessimistic about the situation leading up to her eligibility on Thursday, Hill said she hoped she would be wrong when she looked for an appointment.
“I was really sincerely hoping I’d be proven wrong and the government would come through ... and I would successfully obtain an appointment within the next month,” Hill said. She plans to continue to look for an appointment soon as more become available.
Despite some reports like Hill’s of no appointments until July, state officials believe everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one by the end of April.
And though vaccine numbers will be high, Lamont said he expects measures will continue to limit the spread of the virus, including mandates to wear masks and socially distance.
“I’d probably err on the side of caution,” Lamont said.