⏩ Darien teachers to get second dose; town seeks to vaccinate students.

Town seeks way to vaccinate high school students

DARIEN — As the remainder of Connecticut residents are eligible for the vaccine as of April 1, with the priority of some medical conditions, Darien teachers are receiving their second dose this weekend.

On Saturday, April 3, nearly 700 teachers who received their first dose in late February will get their second and be fully vaccinated at a Darien clinic.

As COVID-related hospitalizations continue to rise in Connecticut, state leaders and health care providers have agreed to a narrow list of high-risk medical conditions that would provide accelerated access when vaccine eligibility expands this week.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday that providers had agreed to the list of five conditions: sickle cell anemia, an active cancer treatment, recipients of solid organ transplants, end-stage renal disease and Down syndrome.

Those 16 and older will also be eligible as of April 1. Last week, Darien Schools Superintendent Alan Addley, First Selectman Jayme Stevenson, Alicia Casucci, director of nursing for the schools and Darien Health Department director David Knauf all said they would support a student vaccine clinic.

Increased COVID cases forced the high school to again switch to remote learning last Thursday. Board members during last week’s Board of Education meeting asked about the town working with the schools to vaccinate students as the high school tended to be most impacted by cases and quarantining.

Addley and Casucci said school systems had been encouraged to pursue vaccinating high school students in towns where those resources were available once that age group becomes eligible.

Casucci said the district plans to work with the town’s health department, which has been conducting vaccine clinics. However, Casucci said any arrangements would depend on the availability of vaccine and the demand.

One obstacle for the town to vaccinate 16 and 17-year-olds is Darien uses the Moderna vaccine, as it does not have the freezer facilities for Pfizer. Moderna is approved only for those 18 and over, while Pfizer goes to as young as 16.

On Tuesday, Knauf said the town has been looking at various options to vaccinate high school students but “the State has made it clear that clinics for schools should not be scheduled until the end of April or early May.”

“In the meantime, we are gathering information from the schools as to the number of students that might be eligible,” Knauf said.

He added that there are logistical difficulties for us to administer vaccine to the schools because Pfizer is the only vaccine approved for use in the 16 to 18 year olds.

“It has specific extremely low temperature storage requirements and only comes in batches of 1170 doses which is far more doses than eligible students,” Knauf said.

Knauf said the town has reached out to Stamford Health to see if they can partner with them in offering the vaccine to Darien students as well as New Canaan’s health director to see if they would be a partner.