Facebook link allowed ineligible residents to sign up for vaccine

Connecticut moved to an age-based vaccine rollout last month, with residents between 55 and 64 years old eligible to sign up on March 1. People between the ages of 45 and 54 become eligible on March 22.

A link shared on Facebook allowed ineligible residents to make COVID vaccine appointments, officials confirmed.

“We have learned that a dedicated link that was reserved solely for registering teachers was unfortunately shared online through a number of individual Facebook sites,” said Yale New Haven Health spokesman Vincent Petrini. “We immediately took action and shut down the link and we are reviewing the situation.”

Though he could not say the exact number of appointments were made, Ohm Deshpande, Yale New Haven Health’s vice president for population health and a physician leader for the provider’s vaccination efforts, said it was “a small number.”

“I don’t have a hard number yet — we are working on that,” he said Thursday. “The link was intended for educators and got abused. Needless to say it was deactivated rapidly.”

Any appointments made by ineligible residents have been canceled, Petrini said.

Connecticut moved to an age-based vaccine rollout last month, with residents aged between 55 and 64 years old eligible to sign up on March 1. People between the ages of 45 and 54 become eligible on March 22, but teachers and other inschool workers of any age became eligible on March 1.

But the intention, according to a press release issued by the state last month, was to administer the vaccine to educators “at dedicated clinics that will be set up specifically for those sectors.”

“We have teacher clinics in most places,” said Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents. “The issue is that you also can’t restrict teachers from going wherever to get their vaccines.”

Petrini said most school districts are going through local health districts to plan vaccine clinics, but that Yale is working with some.

“Yale New Haven is only working with school districts that have approached us directly and we have been working in full collaboration with local health departments and the state Department of Public Health,” he said.

He did not say which school district or districts the link was intended for, but Greenwich is among those school districts that are working with Yale to distribute vaccines to school-based personnel, according to the school district.

“We are currently running efficient and safe vaccination clinics that require extensive logistics,” said Dana Marnane, vice president of public relations at Greenwich Hospital, which is part of th Yale-New Haven system “To continue to best serve our entire community, this was the optimal way to proceed.”

As for how to prevent such breaches in the future, Deshponde said Yale was “working” on the issue

“We have deactivated the link,” he said. “We are working on other tech solutions to make it more stringent.”