Some clinics see increase in people seeking COVID vaccine

Marie Goodall-Sylvester was skeptical. The Bridgeport resident, 62, was reluctant at first to get a COVID-19 vaccine, as she was somewhat suspicious at how quickly the medicines were developed. “Because it came out so early, I had my doubts,” she said.

So Goodall-Sylvester decided she was in no rush to get the vaccine, even though, as a nurse’s aide, she knew how bad the virus could be. But, with the rise of the delta variant and increased cases of COVID throughout the state and nation, she eventually decided she couldn’t wait any longer.

“It’s not getting better. It’s worse,” Goodall-Sylvester said. “I decided to just go in and take it. A lot of people are dying.”

She got her first shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Aug. 9 at the outpatient pharmacy clinic at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport and is slated to get her second dose Aug. 30. Experts said Goodall-Sylvester

is part of a growing group of unvaccinated Connecticut residents who have decided that the time for hesitation is over when it comes to the vaccine.

“There’s definitely an increase in people coming in and getting vaccinated,” said Gina Christakos, pharmacy manager of St. Vincent’s outpatient pharmacy. “The people who were anxious and waiting and worried — they aren’t waiting any longer.”

That’s also been the case at Bridgeport Hospital, said Dr. Gregory Buller, associate chief medical officer and chairman of the department of medicine at Bridgeport Hospital. “We’re seeing an uptick in number of people coming in to get vaccinated from a couple of weeks ago,” he said.

Buller said people who didn’t get the vaccine as soon as they were able to generally fall into one of two categories — the so-called “anti-vaxxers,” who feel vaccines are harmful, and the hesitant, who don’t oppose vaccines but have reservations for one reason or another. With the anti-vaxxers, he said “there’s nothing you can do to convince them.”

But, Buller said, people like Goodall-Sylvester who are reluctant or hesitant are often moved to get the vaccine.

Goodall-Sylvester said her work in health care was a factor in her decision to finally get the vaccine, as was the urging of vaccinated family members. “Everyone in my family took it beside me, until I got it,” she said. “They were very concerned about me not taking it. They kept encouraging me to take it.”

Not only did she finally take the leap, but she called two friends from St. Vincent’s clinic and convinced them to get vaccinated as well.

Overall, Connecticut is one of the better performing states when it comes to vaccinations. According to the state, 65.73 percent of Connecticut residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 60.53 percent are fully vaccinated.

Yet health care providers said they continue to chip away at those eligible people who remain unvaccinated. In Stamford, there has been a steady stream of 50 to 60 people a day receiving vaccines at Stamford Health’s clinic at 292 Long Ridge, said Dr. Michael Parry, director of infectious disease at Stamford Hospital.

Though Parry said he hasn’t seen the sharp bump in vaccinations that St. Vincent’s and Bridgeport have, “it’s been pretty steady” ever since Stamford’s mass vaccine clinic closed.

He said the patients he’s spoken to have been motivated by a variety of factors, including the rise of the delta variant, vaccine mandates and recently having a birthday that put them at higher risk for severe COVID.

“I spoke to somebody today who had gotten pressured by her family to get vaccine because she’s now over 75,” Parry said.

Amy Taylor, of the Community Health Center Inc., said the organization hosts about 15 clinics a week in Danbury, at various locations. The health center is one of the sites that has been collaborating with Nuvance Health — which includes Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon hospitals — to provide communitybased vaccine clinics.

Taylor, vice president of the health center’s western region, said the Danbury clinics provide a total of roughly 250 vaccinations a week — up from roughly 100 a week about three weeks ago.

“It is a significant increase,” Taylor said. Like Parry, she cited a variety of factors, including vaccine mandates.

For Bridgeport residents Evadney Bryden and Samantha Coke, who got vaccinated at St. Vincent’s on Thursday, there was no one specific reason that let them to get the vaccine. Bryden, 86, is the grandmother of Coke, 29. Coke said she just decided to get the vaccine, and thought it would be a good idea to bring her grandmother with her.

“It was just time,” Coke said.