No joke: Vaccine eligibility moved up to April 1 for anyone age 16 and over

Anyone over age 16 who lives or works in Connecticut will be eligible to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine April 1, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday, a week and a half after moving up the timeline for the youngest group from May 3 to April 5.

Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe said there are about 1.3 million people between ages 16 and 44 in the state, and he plans for an initial rush of about 60% of people wanting to be vaccinated, meaning a little under 800,000 people.

But about 182,000 people in this group already have been vaccinated because they were eligible in another category, such as being a health care worker or teacher, meaning about 600,000 people may be looking to schedule appointments right away.

The administration accelerated the timeline by four days because the vaccination supply continues to ramp up, Lamont said. He expects Connecticut to receive more than 200,000 doses next week, including the first doses of the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and at least 37,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. So far, just over 40,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered in Connecticut.

Lamont said he doesn’t think there are unfilled vaccine slots now, but they’re not filling up as rapidly

as they did a week ago, when eligibility opened up for those ages 45 to 54.

“I think the key point is not, ‘Are there appointments going unfilled today?’; it’s ‘When is the day when there will be unfilled slots?’” Geballe said, noting that forecasting gave the state the confidence to move up eligibility.

In Connecticut, 31.1% of the population has received at least one dose, and the firstdose vaccination rates are 80% for those over age 75, 57% for people ages 55 to 64, and 28% among those ages 45 to 54, Geballe said.

But he noted that vaccine uptake in the last group is increasing by about three percentage points a day, meaning he expects about 50% of people ages 45 to 54 to be vaccinated by this time next week.

State officials repeatedly have noted that vaccine uptake slows down once the vaccination rate is over 40% or 50%, meaning that’s when they want to move on to the next age group.

Geballe said more details will come Monday on targeting access to people with preexisting medical conditions, and the state also is planning some dedicated clinics for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

State officials are rushing to get the general population vaccinated in part due to concerns about more transmissible variants of the coronavirus. Lamont said the B.1.1.7 variant could be about 40% of infections right now, though Geballe said case numbers for two California variants are “very small.”

Federal funding

The Lamont administration also announced that $58 million in federal funding will be used “to increase outreach and access in communities with low vaccination rates.”

This includes $28 million for local health departments and community organizations; $24 million for door-to-door canvassing, calls to help people schedule appointments, homebound vaccinations and mobile clinics; and $6 million for technical assistance, such as staff support and analytics.

Separate from Lamont’s briefing, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, announced Thursday that United Community and Family Services in Norwich will get a roughly $3.4 million federal grant and Generations Family Health Center in Willimantic will get $3.5 million.

A news release from Courtney’s office said the grants will be used to expand coronavirus vaccinations, testing and treatment; provide preventive care to people at risk of contracting COVID-19; and expand the capacity of health centers, such as by improving infrastructure and adding mobile units.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the grants following passage of the American Rescue Plan.

Latest case numbers

According to data from the governor’s office, 3.88% of the 38,387 COVID-19 tests administered over the previous day came back positive.

While cases per 100,000 people have been ticking up, Lamont provided a graph showing case rates are continuing to slowly decline among those over age 70 — those most likely to already be vaccinated.

Hospitalizations increased by 22, bringing the total number of people currently hospitalized to 434, and 10 more people died from COVID-19, bringing total coronavirus-related deaths to 7,862.

On Thursday, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London reported it had six COVID-19 hospitalizations and Westerly Hospital reported one.