State reaches COVID vaccine milestone, but supplies lag

Connecticut has reached a new milestone in its COVID-19 vaccine roll-out more than half its residents 16 and older have received their first dose of a vaccine.

At the same time, the state expects to receive 100,000 fewer doses this week than last week, dropping from about 288,000 to 180,000.

“That shortfall is really all related to Johnson & Johnson,” Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday at his briefing on the pandemic.

The state was expecting the reduced supply, which is tied to an issue at J&J’s manufacturing facility in Maryland that led to the disposal of 15 million doses of the vaccine.

The state expects to receive 21,000 doses of the

J&J vaccine this week, but the governor said he doesn’t have “any clarity on what we can expect next week.”

The state is also slated to receive 98,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 60,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine this week.

The majority of the state’s supply of the onedose J&J vaccine will go toward the mobile vans it’s using to vaccinate hard to reach populations. Officials are also developing backup plans in case they have to switch to using the two dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccines for these groups.

Officials were hoping to use the J&J supply to vaccinate college students before they return home for the semester but is now working with other states and the federal government on a plan to administer at least one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to them before they leave and then have them get second shots in their home state.

Lamont began his briefing Monday by addressing another public health crisis facing the state — two “needless” gun-related fatalities in Hartford that occurred over the weekend.

“COVID isn’t the only thing stealing lives, so is gun violence,” Lamont said, referring to the deaths of 3-year-old Randell Tarez Jones and 16-year-old Ja’Mari Preston.

Marichal Monts, pastor at the Citadel of Love in Hartford, joined Lamont virtually. The “senseless” and “unnecessary” killings took the lives of “two beautiful children with dreams in front of them,” he said.

“Is this the Hartford we want? Is this the Connecticut we want?” said Monts, who also serves as chaplain to the Hartford Police Department.

Turning to the pandemic, Monts said he was heartened by the success of a 24hour vaccine clinic in Hartford over the weekend put on by Trinity Health of

New England. An estimated 4,000 doses were administered at the so-called “vax-a-thon,” which targeted communities of color.

But the state’s vaccine providers tasked with reaching equity targets the state state again missed the mark this past week.

One reason for that: the state received a record supply of the vaccine last week and the providers tasked with reaching those living in zip codes identified to maximize racial equity were “maxed out,” so the state provided more supply to local health districts, particularly those in suburban communities, said Josh Geballe the state’s chief operating officer.

As supply gets closer to outpacing demand, which is expected to happen at the end of this month, the number of walk-up appointments is expected to significantly increase, Geballe said, and the state would continue to find opportunities to bring vaccine straight to communities that need it.

The state expects to receive 100,000 fewer doses this week than last week, dropping from about 288,000 to 180,000.