Vaccine open to all in CT April 1
Eligibility is expanded to every state resident — ages 16 and up
With a significant increase in supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine expected, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday he is pushing up the date for all residents to be eligible to get a shot to April 1.
The state had previously planned to open eligibility to everyone on April 5, after opening to people age 45 to 54 on March 19.
The change comes despite an apparent backlog in demand for the vaccine, as many people seeking
inoculations continue to have trouble finding appointments.
Lamont also announced Thursday that the state would invest $58 million in federal stimulus money to increase outreach and access to the vaccine to communities with low inoculation rates.
That funding will be used for door-to-door canvassing, calling people directly to set up vaccine appointments and grants to local health departments and organizations such as churches, seen as trusted institutions in the community that can help convince under-served populations to get inoculated.
About 1.3 million people 16 and older will become eligible for the vaccine, Lamont’s office said. But the number expected to actively seek appointments is expected to be about half that amount. Many younger adults have already received vaccinations as health care workers and educators, and an estimated 40 percent are expected to wait or decline.
“It’s going to be a rush at the gate, we know that,” Lamont said in making the late afternoon announcement. But he said Connecticut expects to vaccinate 200,000 people next week, up from about 150,000.
Fighting a trend
The change comes as the state is seeing increases in its positive test rate and cases, and as the Northeast, including Connecticut, is once again becoming a hot spot — though not with a full-blown spike as happened in the fall.
“Greater New England is unfortunately leading the country in terms of infections,” the governor said.
The number of people in Connecticut hospitals fell steadily from 1,269 in midDecember to 400 in early March, but has gone up and down since then.
While the median age for Covid-19 patients has come down, a sign that the vaccine and safety protocols such as masking and social distancing are working, “I’m always reminded when I walk through the ICU that it’s not over,” said Kathleen Silard, CEO of Stamford Health.
“We have to stay vigilant on everything we’ve done,” said Silard, who joined Lamont as his briefing Thursday.
Connecticut’s 7-day rolling average positivity rate was at 2.26 percent on March 3, and is back up to 3.7 percent, state data
shows — and Lamont emphasized.
The current infections are concentrated among younger adults.
A look at the rate of vaccination in the latest group shows the logic behind moving up the date for everyone to be eligible. Among people 45 to 54, 28 percent have received at least their first dose, Josh Geballe, the state’s Chief Operating Officer, said Thursday.
In a week, the state expects about 50 percent of that group will have received their first doses, Geballe said.
“Once you get up north of 40 percent, you start having some lag” in the number of people signing up for appointments, Lamont said. “So this is the time for us to move forward on April 1” — especially as the supply increases.
Overall, more than 1 million residents have received at least their first dose of a vaccine, and about 600,000 residents are fully vaccinated.
Connecticut remains at the top of the list nationwide for the rate at which it is vaccinating its residents, at 31.1 percent with first inoculations, making this the No. 3 state, Lamont said. The national average was 25.7 percent, That means Connecticut is ahead
of the national rate by about 190,000 vaccinations.
Falling short for targeted groups
While the state continues to vaccinate a large number of people, it also continues to miss the racial and socioeconomic equity targets it has set for itself. Initially, the state asked vaccine providers to give 25 percent of their doses to people in Zip codes with a socially
vulnerable population as determined by a formula calculated by the Centers for Disease Control and Protection.
Providers administered 22 of their doses to those zip codes during the week ending March 14. Last week, the state moved the target to 26 percent, and providers administered of their doses in these Zip codes.
“We’re narrowing that gap steadily. We’re not there yet,
and we still have more work to do, but we’re making progress,” Geballe said.
Connecticut’s federally recognized community health centers, typically based in low-income neighborhoods, have reached a higher percentage of people in the targeted groups — which tend to be disproportionately Black and Latinx. They asked the state for permission earlier this month to vaccinate their
entire patient populations regardless of age, but the Lamont administration denied the request.
Officials are hoping the $58 million will provide a big boost in reaching the targeted populations.
Democratic State Rep. Geraldo Reyes Jr., D-Waterbury, chairman of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus of the state legislature, joined Lamont at his Thursday briefing. Reyes said the strategy of trusted community members, particularly those who are fluent in languages other than English, going door-to-door to get the word out about the vaccines, has proven to work.
In the Fair Haven section of New Haven, activists fanned out and knocked on thousands of doors. And in Stamford, a community group brought in more than 300 low-income immigrants for vaccinations on one recent weekend day.
In Waterbury, the Hispanic Coalition has helped vaccinate large swaths of that population there, starting with seniors, Reyes said. “That goes to show you that familiarity breeds comfort and comfort will allow people who were hesitant to take the shot to actually take it,” Reyes said