City teams with Stamford Health to provide vaccines
STAMFORD — The city of Stamford has entered into a partnership with Stamford Health to begn vaccinating residents against COVID-19, Mayor David Martin announced late Friday afternoon.
According to the mayor’s office, vaccinations can begin Monday for residents in priority groups.
The state is preparing to move into Phase 1B of its vaccination program, which will cover seniors age 75 and up as well as essential workers. It will expand to include seniors 65 and older and younger people who more vulnerable to the coronavirus because of health conditions.
“We’re all in this together, and when we put our heads together to tackle big challenges, we have the biggest impact,” Kathleen Silard, president and chief executive officer of Stamford Health, said in
the statement.
“Working together so closely on this vaccination rollout, we can expedite the process and best serve our community, moving us closer to the end of this devastating pandemic,” she said. “I want to thank Mayor Martin and his team for their support. I feel a profound sense of hope as we take this next step, together.”
Residents can begin to make appointments online immediately. For more information on eligibility and to sign up, visit
www.StamfordHealth.org /Covid19Vaccine.
The initial vaccinations will take place in the Wheeler Building at Stamford Health’s Bennett Medical Center Campus. The city said it is working to find a site with greater capacity and more parking that can be used for the long-term as the vaccination rollout expands to more people, including teachers.
“Stamford is fortunate to have Stamford Health’s staff and resources available for expanding our community’s access to this lifesaving vaccine,” Martin said. “Our partnership with Stamford Health will make sure the COVID-19 vaccine reaches as many
residents as possible, as quickly as possible.”
Martin added, “Every day this pandemic continues we risk the lives of our neighbors, friends and loved ones. We must use every resource available to us to ramp up the number of vaccinations administered per day for the health and safety of Stamford’s community.”
The number of people vaccinated will depend on the supply of vaccine, which is allocated by the state and the federal government, the city said.
As of Thursday, Stamford Health had administered over 4,844 unique vaccinations, with the city of Stamford administering
another 1,100.
Over the next several weeks, Stamford Health and the city said they hope to administer nearly 1,000 vaccines per day.
On Thursday, Gov. Ned Lamont said an additional 50,000 doses of vaccine are heading to Connecticut from the federal government because of the state’s high rate of vaccinations in Phase 1A.
Once he takes office Wednesday, President-elect Joe Biden is expected to implement a policy to accelerate vaccination production and distribution throughout the country. Biden has pledged to deliver 100 million vaccines to Americans in the first 100
days of his term.
A third vaccine could be weeks from release from Johnson & Johnson. This vaccine is supposed to be effective after a single dose and can be stored at room temperature, unlike the existing Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which must be kept in deep freeze and require two doses within 21 days for maximum effectiveness.
This week, in remarks to the Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich, state Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter said the possible new vaccine “could be the game-changer.”