Vaccination in Connecticut, by the numbers

More than four months into COVID-19 vaccination, Connecticut continues to rank among the states with the highest share of inoculated residents, as it potentially nears the long-awaited herd immunity threshold.

Here are the numbers to know.

3.2 million — the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Connecticut: Connecticut ranks fourth among all states with 54% of its population having received at least one vaccine dose, behind New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont. Of Connecticut residents 16 and older, more than 66% have gotten at least one dose, according to state numbers.

Meanwhile, Connecticut stands second among all states, behind only Maine, with 38% of its population fully vaccinated.

Overall, Connecticut has administered 3,220,725 doses, as of Friday, or nearly one for every state resident.

70% to 85% — the herd immunity threshold: For Connecticut to truly vanquish COVID-19, it will need to reach herd immunity, the point at which so many people in a given community are immune that the disease can no longer find new hosts. People can attain some degree of immunity to COVID-19 one of two ways: through vaccination or through prior infection.

Experts don’t know exactly at what point Connecticut will attain this threshold but say it will likely be somewhere between 70% and 85% immunity.

With 54% of the state at least partially vaccinated and an unknown number of additional residents immune due to previous infection, Connecticut is creeping closer to that all-important marker but isn’t there yet.

14% — Connecticut’s decrease in vaccination rate over a recent two-week period:

Vaccination has slowed somewhat in Connecticut and elsewhere over recent weeks — likely due to a combination of fewer eligible residents left to be vaccinated and a potential dip in confidence amid the recent 11-day pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

The good news: After the number of people getting vaccinated declined 20% from April 3-10 to April 11-17, it rebounded slightly over the following week.

168th — Hartford’s rank in vaccination rate among 169 Connecticut towns and cities

Vaccination in Connecticut has not been spread equally across the state. With few exceptions, the state’s largest cities have lagged in vaccination, while suburban and rural towns have surged.

So while 63% of West Hartford residents have received at least one vaccine dose, only 31% of Hartford residents have. And while 59% of Westport residents have received at least one dose, only 33% of Bridgeport residents have.

The only Connecticut municipality with a lower rate of vaccination than Hartford has been Mansfield, home to UConn, where most students did not become eligible to receive a vaccine until April 1.

38% — the rate of vaccination in Connecticut’s ‘priority ZIP codes’: The state has directed vaccine providers to allocate a share of doses to underserved areas in hopes of producing a more equitable distribution process, but providers have often fallen short of their targets.

According to state numbers, about 38% of residents of “priority ZIP codes” have received at least one vaccine dose, compared to 53% of those in other zip codes (with some additional addresses still pending validation).

Officials and health experts attribute these disparities to gaps in transportation, information and technology and in some cases language barriers.

36.1% — the share of Connecticut’s Black residents who have been vaccinated, according to state numbers:

Vaccine distribution has also diverged by race.

According to state numbers, which officials warn are incomplete, 60.7% of white residents have received at least one vaccine dose, as compared to 58.3% of Asian residents, 42.4% of Hispanic residents and 36.1% of Black residents.

Though these numbers are imperfect due to gaps in the data, state and local officials, as well as health equity advocates, agree that the vaccine effort has so far skewed toward white Connecticut residents.

This is particularly notable given that Black and Hispanic residents have been significantly more likely to test positive for COVID19 and to die from the disease, after adjusting for age.

14 — the number of new COVID19 cases among Connecticut nursing home residents last week:

During the height of Connecticut’s fall/winter COVID-19 surge, the state’s nursing homes were recording hundreds of new cases a week, including 483 and residents and 362 among staff during the first week in January.

Then nursing home staff and residents became eligible for vaccination and the rate of new cases there, as well as deaths, began to decrease sharply week after week.

In recent weeks, nursing homes have recorded only a handful of cases. Officials say some have been among unvaccinated patients and staff, while others have been instances of rare vaccine “breakthrough.”

Cases have similarly dropped among other groups as they became eligible for vaccination — first Connecticut’s oldest residents, then younger groups. Overall, COVID-19 cases in Connecticut have dropped in recent weeks despite the growing presence of highly contagious variants, in an apparent sign of vaccine success.