Some towns far back in shots
Big cities lag, but many rural spots also have low vaccination rates
Connecticut’s capital has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the state: Just 41.3% of Hartford residents are vaccinated, according to newly-released state data. Just across the line in West Hartford, 72.4% of residents are vaccinated — among the highest rates in the state.
Although Connecticut is one of the most highly-vaccinated states in the country — 64% of residents are fully vaccinated and 70% of residents have received at least one dose — vaccination rates vary widely among municipalities. Throughout the state, major cities and small towns lag significantly behind in vaccination rates, some with only a minority of residents vaccinated.
Gov. Ned Lamont has referenced widely-varying vaccination rates among towns as a reason to let local municipalities make their own decisions on mask mandates and other restrictions. But geographic disparities in vaccination rates may mean that even as the pandemic begins to subside in some areas, it could prove deadly in others.
“If you look at it in its entirety, it may look like it’s petering out, but you’re going to have these pockets of communities that are really getting whacked with this,” Dr. James Cardon, Hartford HealthCare’s chief clinical integration officer, said Friday. “A small town, 90% vaccinated? You’re not going to see much there. Hartford? Scary. The potential to have … a very localized kind of event is really problematic.’’
What will it take for the state to close its wide gap in vaccination rates, and where should resources be concentrated?
Where are vaccine rates the lowest?
The five municipalities with the lowest rates for fully vaccinated residents in Connecticut are Mansfield (33.8%), Sterling (39.7%), Hartford (41.28%), Thompson (41.3%) and New Britain (44.9%), according to state data.
Many of the state’s biggest cities have long struggled to increase their vaccination rates and, months into the rollout of the vaccine, still have not crossed the threshold of 50% full vaccination. In addition to Hartford and New Britain, those cities include Bridgeport (45.2%) and Waterbury (45.5%). With 50.6% of its population fully vaccinated, New Haven is just barely over that threshold.
It’s not only big cities that have lagging vaccination rates, however. Many smaller, more rural towns are at the bottom of the state’s vaccination list. Of the 25 municipalities with the lowest vaccination rates, three are towns with fewer than 10,000 residents (Thompson, Putnam and Brooklyn) and five have roughly 5,000 residents or fewer (Sterling, Sprague, Scotland, Canterbury and North Canaan).
The other towns with the lowest vaccination rates in the state include Plainfield, Windham, Killingly, Griswold, Ansonia, Stafford, Plymouth, New London, Norwich, Groton and Winchester, which range in vaccination rates from 47.0% to 52.2%.
Where are vaccine rates the highest?
The municipalities at the other end of the spectrum have surpassed, or are close to, what health experts have identified as the threshold for herd immunity — the level of immunity in a population, due to both infections and vaccinations, at which large viral outbreaks are prevented. National and state experts have said that to achieve herd immunity, at least 70% to 85% of a given population will need to be immune to the virus.
Canaan, in the state’s northwest corner, is the most vaccinated municipality in the state: 94.5% of its population of just over 1,000 is fully vaccinated. Some of the other most vaccinated municipalities are small towns with fewer than 4,000 residents, including Salisbury, Lyme, Kent, Cornwall, Washington, Roxbury and Bridgewater, which range in full vaccination rates from 70.1% to 83.14%.
Of the municipalities with the top 25 rates for the fully vaccinated, West Hartford is the largest town with the highest vaccination rate at 72.4%. The other top-25 towns, ranging in vaccination rates from 69.5% to 78.0%, are Old Saybrook, Avon, Farmington, North Haven, Madison, Essex, Woodbridge, Guilford, Glastonbury, Wilton, Old Lyme, Cromwell, Wethersfield, New Canaan, South Windsor and Simsbury.
How can disparities be reduced?
When it comes to closing the gap in vaccination rates across the state, Dr. Thomas Balcezak, chief clinical officer for Yale New Haven Health, said that Connecticut has passed the phase of major vaccination efforts, like mass vaccination sites, and now needs to focus on “a series of small things” to reach residents who are wary of the vaccine or who have not yet had access to it.
The most effective strategies may involve community vaccination clinics, like ones that have been hosted by local churches in recent months, as well as offering people the vaccination through their own health care provider, Balcezak said.
“If your physician says, ‘Hey, do you want a vaccine? I’ve got it right here, ready for you,’ I think you’re going to pick up some people there, too,” he said.
Another extra push for unvaccinated people in the state may come when the Food and Drug Administration fully approves the COVID19 vaccines, which is expected to come in early September, he added.
“At this point, these folks, we’ve got to meet them where they are and try and bring them along,” Cardon, of Hartford HealthCare, said of unvaccinated residents. “… Hopefully their physicians can, if they have that kind of relationship, or their friends can.”
Hartford HealthCare is still offering community vaccination clinics, Cardon said, but interest has significantly dropped off. Closing the vaccination gap now hinges on the time-consuming but critical work of having individual conversations with people about the vaccine.
“It’s a real door-to-door downgame, but it has to be people they trust and know, because otherwise, it’s just what they’ve heard before,” he said.
Where are cases rising most rapidly?
As of Friday, New Haven and Hartford counties were both designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as areas of “high” community transmission of COVID-19.
In New Haven County, new COVID-19 cases have risen at an 85.69% rate of change over the past seven days, according to the CDC. On Friday, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said that he plans to issue an indoor mask mandate, effective Monday, to help slow the spread of the virus. Hartford County crossed the threshold of becoming an area of “high” community transmission Friday, and has seen a 73.68% rate of increase for new COVID-19 cases over the past week.
The remaining counties in the state were all designated areas of “substantial” community transmission of COVID-19.
Lamont has often said that, following the model of the United Kingdom, he expects cases to begin to decline in coming weeks. Balcezak said he also anticipates a drop-off in new cases in the near future.
“Another week or so of rise and then it starts petering out. I think that’s what we’re going to see,” he said.