The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
State tries to get vaccine to vulnerable communities
From much of Bridgeport to large swaths of New Haven, Connecticut has honed in on the areas where it plans to direct at least a quarter of all new COVID vaccines in the coming weeks.
The state Department of Public Health has designated these 50 key areas by ZIP code and has committed to ensure 25 percent of all new vaccines reach residents there in a pivotal step to bolster vaccinations in vulnerable communities.
“We are reaching out aggressively to those communities,” Gov. Ned Lamont said. “We are going to allocate 25 percent of the vaccine to those communities to make sure they get vaccinated even if we have to work extra hard to make sure they get vaccinated.”
Working with the Yale School of Public Health, the state DPH designated ZIP codes that are highest in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s social vulnerability index, which weighs factors including poverty, employment, housing, access to transportation, education and other variables.
DPH used the data to develop the list for more targeted vaccine efforts. The list includes much of Bridgeport, New Haven, Danbury, Hartford, Waterbury, New Britain, Derby, East Hartford, along with swaths of West Haven, Stamford, Ansonia, Norwalk and other municipalities.
In Bridgeport, the ZIP codes include the North End, West Side, West End, East Side, East End and Black Rock neighborhoods. In New Haven, the areas include the Fair Haven, Dixwell, Newhallville, Dwight and Westville neighborhoods.
In Norwalk, the ZIP code listed is for the SoNo section.
The state’s capital and Bridgeport, its largest city, both rank at the very bottom for percentage of first doses administered to their populations, according to DPH data from Feb. 23. In both cities, less than 8 percent of the population has received a first dose of the vaccine. Waterbury, Danbury and New Haven also all ranked toward the bottom.
“While we continue to make great progress in quickly vaccinating our residents thanks to your hard work, we are still falling short of the imperative to do so equitably across communities,” Acting Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford wrote in a memo last weekend to vaccine providers. “People of color and those who live in our highest-risk cities are getting vaccinated at lower rates than whiter and wealthier residents.”
Pointing to statistics gathered last week, Gifford said that while 17 percent of those in lowrisk cities had been vaccinated, only 12 percent had been in high-risk cities.
Of those age 75 and older whose race and ethnicity were known, 50 percent of people vaccinated were white, while 38 percent were Hispanic and 29 percent were Black residents.
“We can and will do better, and we can only do that with your commitment and collaboration,” Gifford wrote.
Gifford wrote in her memo that outreach and access will need to increase in these designated ZIP codes through call centers, reserved spots at clinics and mobile clinics in priority neighborhoods.
More appointments available
One day after Connecticut officials said “tens of thousands” of newly eligible people flooded COVID-19 vaccine registration systems, more appointments came online Tuesday.
While many people reported difficulty Monday finding appointments within the next several weeks, state officials have stressed that more appointments would show up in the coming days.
As of Monday, roughly 610,000 people, including those age 55 to 64 and teachers, school workers and child care professionals, became eligible in the largest expansion to date.
Some reported having to schedule vaccine appointments as late as May. However, Lamont said it would be “premature” to shift the eligibility schedule for the upcoming age groups. Under the plan, those age 45 to 54 are eligible to register on March 22, those age 35 to 44 are eligible on April 12, and those age 16 and older can register on May 3.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced the federal government will have enough supply to vaccinate all adults in the country by the end of May.
“This is significant news for our efforts here in Connecticut. As the doses come in, we are ready to get shots in arms,” Lamont responded to the president’s announcement.
The news came as Connecticut reported Tuesday a 2.9 percent positivity rate of new COVID-19 tests and a drop in hospitalizations to 413 statewide. Another seven people died from COVID-19, bringing the total to 7,658.
Connecticut was set to receive more than 150,000 first doses of vaccines this week, including nearly 40,000 of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Officials said the new doses from Johnson & Johnson, which requires one dose unlike vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, had not factored into the available appointments as of Monday.