State: Moderna authorization means more vaccine locations
When 63,000 doses of the newly authorized Moderna coronavirus vaccine starts arriving in Connecticut early next week, it will set the scene for wider distribution, because it doesn’t have to be kept at the super-cold temperature of minus-94-degrees-Farhenheit that the Pfizer vaccine requires and only a few health institutions can handle.
That should make it a lot easier to distribute to local health providers and nursing home residents, said Josh Geballe, Gov. Ned Lamont’s chief operating officer who is supervising the statewide effort in tackling the virus.
“This will give us the opportunity to continue to broaden the number of sites, providers who are able to administer the vaccine,” Geballe said Friday during the governor’s daily update on the pandemic. “And so we will start to see as soon as next week, federally qualified health centers, local health departments and other providers start to receive vaccine and be able to start conducting vaccination clinics for phase 1-A populations.”
For the time being, those eligible for the vaccine include a wide range of health-related professions, long-term care residents and first responders with potential exposure to COVID patients, including EMS, police and fire personnel.
The governor, who said Thursday that 63,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine are anticipated, is expected to decide over the next few weeks who should be included in the next round of
inoculations. His COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group is scheduled to suggest next Tuesday the 1-B cohort.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recommends that 1-B include essential workers, including educators, public safety employees, prison guards and transportation employees, while 1-C should have adults with high-risk medical conditions, as well as adults over-65.
Vaccinations for healthy residents under the age of 65 and older than 16 are expected to begin in the summer of 2021, said Maura Fitzgerald, spokesperson for the state Department of Public Health.
The Moderna vaccine requires only standard refrigeration. At least one major health system in the state is expecting doses of the Moderna vaccine to be delivered next week.
Eric Arlia, senior director of pharmacy for Hartford HealthCare, said delivery of about 8,800 doses of the vaccine are expected between Monday and Wednesday. The doses would be doled out among the system's hospitals, which
include St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport and Hartford Hospital.
“It's about four times the amount we received of the Pfizer vaccine, and we're expecting more of the Pfizer vaccine,” Arlia said.
With the allocation rising, he said, the hospitals will get to vaccinate more workers. However, Arlia said, availability of the Moderna vaccine likely wouldn’t mean that the general population will get the vaccine any faster.
On Thursday, Lamont and Geballe said the Pfizer allocation had been reduced by 12,000 doses from previously expected levels — but that some vials contained more than the expected five doses each.
“What it says is that we’re staying on the plan,” Arlia said of the developments. “There hasn’t been a setback.”
Dr. Michael Parry, chief of infectious diseases at Stamford Hospital, said Stamford was also expected to receive doses of the vaccine next week. “We're just thankful to have more vaccine available,” he said.