CITY DISPARITY
Some CT towns have administered first dose to more than half their populations while most cities lag
A handful of small Connecticut municipalities have already seen nearly twothirds of their residents receive at least the first dose of COVID vaccine, state data released Thursday shows.
In the New London County town of Lyme, more than 65 percent of the population of about 2,300 have received at least a first dose of vaccine, according to the state data.
Old Saybrook and Essex, located just across the Connecticut River in Middlesex County, report about 63 percent and 60 percent of their residents, respectively, have received one dose.
The small communities represent a trend among the municipalities with the highest rate of residents who have received at least one dose. None of the municipalities in the top10 have more than 25,000 residents, the data shows.
Pomfret, with a population 4,200 in Windham County, saw the biggest gain in vaccine coverage, as 17 percent more of its residents received the first dose in the past week, the data shows.
Five communities in Fairfield County also saw large increases, including the town of Fairfield, where vaccine coverage jumped by more than 12 percent out of a population of 62,000.
Meanwhile, Connecticut's largest cities — including Hartford and Bridgeport — still rank at the bottom of the list for the rate of their populations that have received the first dose.
In Hartford, just 22 percent of the city's 122,000 residents have received a shot in the arm — up 4 percent from the previous
week. The state's capital ranks dead last for vaccine coverage, the data shows.
Bridgeport, the state's largest city with 144,000 residents, is ranked fourthtolast with a little more than a quarter of its population receiving one dose. Its vaccine coverage grew by about 5 percent from the previous week, the data shows.
The number of first doses administered statewide now exceeds 1.4 million, while about 883,000 residents are now fully vaccinated. Both figures include the roughly 74,000 doses of the singleshot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered in the state.
Just under half of those eligible to receive the vaccine in the state have now received at least one dose, one week after the state expanded eligibility to everyone 16 and older.
That puts Connecticut among the top states for percentage of its overall population to be vaccinated. As of Thursday, the state is trailing only New Mexico and New Hampshire for vaccine coverage of their total population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But the state's data shows municipalities with highneed communities still rank near the bottom of the list for vaccine coverage.
Of communities listed as having high social vulnerability populations, only three — Orange, West Hartford and Waterford — have half or more of residents who have received one dose, the state's data shows.
State officials have said they plan to prioritize 50 ZIP codes to receive vaccines based on high social vulnerability populations. Those plans include a special yellow van that will drive into communities and allow residents to walk up for a shot — the governor has likened it to an ice cream truck.
But those plans may be hitting a snag as projected doses of the oneshot Johnson & Johnson vaccine are expected to fall dramatically in the coming weeks, after the pharmaceutical company announced one of its manufacturers still needs to be certified by federal regulators.
“The J&J is especially helpful for the mobile vans because you can just walk up, so we're going to have to be a little cleverer with that now because it's going to have a twoshot regimen,” Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday.
But the list of communities with the lowest vaccination rates also includes a handful of smaller, more rural towns without populations marked as underserved.
North Canaan, which sits at the top of the state in northern Litchfield County, ranks as the thirdlowest vaccinated community, despite having a population of just over 3,000 people. The town of Mansfield, in northeastern Connecticut, has a population of about 25,000 and the secondlowest vaccination rate at about 23 percent.
Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration head Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Monday the state could reach enough immunity from the vaccine, particularly for vulnerable population, “that we can take more risks” as early as the end of this month.
“My view has been all along that as we get more of the vulnerable population vaccinated and get some more immunity into vulnerable people, we can start to take more risks with what we're doing,” Gottlieb said.