Danbury Hospital vaccine due ‘sometime soon’

DANBURY — The wait for the coronavirus vaccine continues at Danbury Hospital and other hospitals within the Nuvance Health system.

“Nuvance Health is working closely with state officials and expects to receive an initial COVID-19 vaccine shipment sometime soon,” spokeswoman Andrea Rynn said in a statement. “We are very excited about receiving the vaccines and our staff and facilities are standing at the ready.”

The state said Monday that 1,950 vaccines should be sent this week to Danbury Hospital, which is part of the Nuvance Health system that includes New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon hospitals.

Fifteen frontline workers from Hartford HealthCare were the first in the state to receive the vaccine on Monday, while the first five staff members from Yale New Haven Hospital were vaccinated on Tuesday. The vaccine was expected to arrive at Greenwich Hospital Tuesday evening, in addition to other hospitals around the state including St. Vincent’s in Bridgeport.

Health care workers, medical first responders and those living at longterm care facilities will be vaccinated first, followed by “critical” workers, people in other congregate settings, adults over 65 and high-risk individuals under 65. The rest of the public will be vaccinated beginning in June with hopes of having most who want to be vaccinated by sometime in the fall.

The vaccine arriving at Nuvance was developed by Pfizer and Germanbased BioNTech and was the first to be authorized by the U.S. Food and

Drug Administration. A

second vaccine, made by Moderna, could soon receive an emergency use

authorization from the FDA and distributed in the coming weeks.

H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Kyle DeLucia, owner of K&J Tree Service, and his crew set up a crane at the entrance to Danbury Hospital with a 50-foot American flag and a giant thank you sign to show their appreciation to the hospital staff serving the community during the pandemic.