‘A real, known danger:’ More than 1,000 sign up for coronavirus vaccines at Fairfield clinic
FAIRFIELD — Danielle Rathey has had a long year.
A school psychologist who works throughout the school district, Rathey had COVID-19 a year ago and said she’s now a “long hauler.”
She first came down with symptoms late last spring — but coronavirus wasn’t blamed initially.
“I was a classical ballerina,” Rathey said. “My left side stopped working — my left hip, my left knee. I had to have all kinds of tests done. At first they thought it was rheumatic, more like arthritis and things like that.
“I was diagnosed with MS,” Rathey said. “It turns out I didn’t have MS, just the effects of COVID.”
Her symptoms gradually improved — and when the vaccine was made available to educators at a clinic in the senior center Monday, she was one of the first to get a shot.
“It has just been progressing and gradually got better, but it’s been a ride,” Rathey said. “I’ve been very careful and of course very excited to get the vaccine.”
A total of 1,008 people — mostly educators, as well as those 55 and older who also became eligible Monday — were scheduled to get doses of the Moderna vaccine at the clinic, according to Health Director Sands Cleary.
“It’s not just teachers,” Cleary said. “It’s anybody who works in a school, public or private, anybody who works in a childcare program, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, anybody that interacts with students related to school.”
Rathey said the vaccine will give her a greater sense of safety and
security, but noted educators will still respect students’ and families’ boundaries, since the children haven’t yet been vaccinated.
“A lot of families of course are keeping their kiddos home because of the pandemic and they have family members who have underlying health conditions and maybe some of the children themselves, and I completely understand.” she said. “It’s 100 percent OK to feel worried, because it’s real. It’s not a hoax.”
More than a half-dozen people who received doses in the first half-hour Monday all described the process, from sign-up to receiving the vaccine, as easy.
Libby Katz, a school psychologist at Riverfield Elementary, described the process as “very organized” and said she was able to make an appointment last week without any problems.
“They announced it and then we were immediately able to sign up,” she said after getting the vaccine.
“It was very easy,” Chris Varcoe, an eighth grade science teacher at Roger Ludlowe Middle School, said seconds after rolling up the sleeve of his Yankees T-shirt to get his first dose. “It was great that the town sponsored this to have it be convenient, nearby, to have there be so many slots open.”
Varcoe said he knows a couple of teachers in other schools who have gotten COVID-19, as well as a friend who lost a parent.
Though a decision by Gov. Ned Lamont last month to determine vaccine eligibility through age groups and prioritizing teachers has prompted criticism, Varcoe said he hadn’t heard any pushback personally.
But the issues are tough to sort out, he said.
“I’m much more tuned into the science stuff than the social stuff,” Varcoe said. “To me, the social stuff is really confusing. I can’t figure out who deserves a vaccine. It’s so complicated.”
And while in a perfect world there’d be more research to back up the vaccines, it’s far from a perfect world.
“I recognize that it would be better if they had more time to do more trials and research, but getting the virus is a known danger,” Varcoe said. “That’s a real, known danger. Whereas concerns about the safety of the vaccine, that’s sort of unknown.”
Teachers at private schools, as well as schools outside of Fairfield, were also eligible to sign up.
Sarah Pollex, the physical education department chair at the private Unquowa School, said the sign-up process was very simple and straightforward — and complimented those running Monday’s clinic.
“It’s very well organized, and there was no waiting,” she said. “The public health nurses are excellent.”
Sean Mackenzie, a theology and social studies teacher at the private Fairfield Prep, said he felt great after getting his first dose and said other teachers are looking forward to the school returning to full-time status in the next couple weeks.
“From what I hear people are excited,” he said.
Monday’s clinic was also open to groups like those 55 and older who became eligible Monday and signed up through VAMS.
Jerrett Garner, 59, who owns a golf shop near the train station downtown and was one of the first to receive a shot.
“I signed up when my wife saw it was 55 and above,” the Westport resident said. “For some reason, we got a 12 o’clock (appointment) on the first day.”
He said he has absolutely no hesitation getting the vaccine.
“I’m totally psyched to get it,” he said. “I definitely want to do my part. Everybody wants to get back to normal, for God’s sake.”
Norwalk resident Diane Eppert, 55, said she wanted to get vaccinated because she cares for her mother part-time.
Eppert said she had two doses of the shingles vaccine last year and her arm was sore after the first shot.
She said her hopes were buoyed by the example of her mother, who has received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“She’a a rock star, 89 years old, and nothing, absolutely nothing,” Eppert said. “So I’m like, ‘Mom, I hope I have your genes on this one!’”
Eppert said she was happy to get the vaccine but worried it was unfair not to open eligibility to those who are full-time caregivers.
“It’s sad that they’re not getting to those people,” she said. “It’s really important to get those people.”
Janet Brogan, a public health nurse with the health department, said that the town has administered 60 doses of the vaccine at homes of those who are eligible but unable to get to a clinic.
Brogan commended the efforts of medical reserve corps volunteers like Kate O’Mahony and Kate Whiteside, as well as school nurses who administered vaccines.
“The effort that the school nurses have put into this is phenomenal,” Brogan said. “They’re doing three jobs right now. They’re doing their school nursing, they’re doing contact tracing at the schools and they’re working at these clinics. And every time we call for people to help, they all offer to come down and help. They’re selfless people.”
“I’m so proud of them,” said Jill Mitchell, a nursing supervisor in the school district.
The clinics so far have been a success, Mitchell said: “We haven’t had to waste a single dose.”
Cleary said the town has been offering vaccination clinics since December, and usually twice a week.
Another clinic to administer the second shot of the vaccine to those who got first doses Monday would be scheduled in four weeks, Cleary said.
There are about 2,500 public and private school employees and 1,500 in just public schools, he said.
Future clinics will depend on how much vaccine the town will be able to get its hands on.
“The vaccine increasing depends on a couple variables,” he said. “We have no guarantee that it will increase, but (the) Johnson and Johnson (vaccine) is coming out, so there will be some additional deliveries of that that should supplement the supply. In general, the vaccine supply has been gradually, slightly increasing, but in terms of what we get, the demand is also increasing.”
“Pretty much every week we start the week with not enough vaccine on hand and then we scramble to get it,” he said.