‘This vaccine is making a difference,’ Martin says
STAMFORD — After a complicated eligibility expansion in Stamford Monday, Mayor David Martin focused on the bright sides of vaccine distribution at his weekly COVID-19 update.
The mayor on Tuesday evening pointed to early data that showed a drop in COVID incidence in the community.
“I tell you, this vaccine is making a difference,” Martin said. “Particularly to the individuals who are 75-plus. And now that we’re vaccinating the 65-plus, I expect to see the reductions there, as we continue
to see the reductions in the 75plus (community) over time.”
Martin topped off the news with yet another vaccine announcement: Stamford Hospital would likely receive doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine later in the week. Stamford Superintendent of Schools Dr. Tamu Lucero announced during a Board of Education “workshop meeting” Tuesday night that all Stamford elementary teachers — the first batch of educators to get vaccinated — would receive the Johnson & Johnson one.
Stamford Health will receive 2,000 doses of the new vaccine this week, according to Stamford Health Infectious Disease Chair Dr. Michael Parry.
On the heels of news about more vaccines, Parry nodded subtly towards the lack of vaccine appointments at Stamford Hospital following the March 1 expansion.
“The demand is so great and supply is still limited,” he said. “But things will improve with time. We will open up new slots in the schedule. We will get new vaccine. As we get into April and May, there will be plenty of vaccine for those that want it, particularly in those high-risk ages and high-risk groups.”
Hospital officials told The Advocate on Monday that vaccine appointments at Stamford Health are fully booked until the end of March, and that the hospital would open up more vaccine appointments as it received more allocations from the state.
Martin’s data suggests that, since mid-February, COVID-19 positivity in people older than 75 dropped approximately 2 percent, according to the seven-day average.
The week that Connecticut expanded vaccine eligibility, Stamford received just over 12,100 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, according to Director of Health Dr. Jennifer Calder.
Stamford Health received the bulk of the city’s allocation: 6,600 doses. Community Health Center, which operates a mass testing operation on High Ridge Road, received 5,400 doses. In stark comparison, Optimus Healthcare received 100 doses.
Close to 13 percent of residents have received the first dose of their COVID vaccine in Stamford, beating out other “large, diverse cities” in the state like Norwalk, Bridgeport, and New Haven, Martin said. But Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention data shows that Stamford lags the percentage of people vaccinated statewide by more than 10 percent.
Overall, 25.1 percent of adults in the state received at least the first dose of their COVID vaccine. Martin attributed this disconnect to racial health disparities across Connecticut.
“We’re struggling to get our population with the first dose — we want more vaccine, all the time,” he said. “And the cities that have more diverse populations in general have a harder time getting more vaccines into people’s arms, for a variety of reasons we need not get into.”