⏩ New Canaan health director: ‘Team effort’ boosts vax rate for 12 to 17-year-olds
NEW CANAAN — The town has one of the four highest vaccinations rates for children ages 12 to 17 in the state, with 89.3 percent of the 2,386 residents in that age group having received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the statistics released by the Connecticut Health Department last Thursday.
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said the high vaccination rate for 12- to 17-year-old children “was because the town arranged for mass vaccination in the schools of the eligible school kids.”
Some 77.8 percent of the age group, or 1,857 total 12to 17-year-olds, are fully vaccinated.
“The partnership between the town Health Department and the school district has been outstanding, and I believe the excellent vaccination rates are a result of our close cooperation,” Superintendent Bryan Luizzi said.
The town is continuing to offer Pfizer vaccines daily at the Health Department for children age 12 and older, New Canaan Health Department Director Jenn Eielson said.
Children ages 12 to 15 years old are required to have a parent present to be vaccinated, she added.
“Our high vaccination numbers are attributable to multiple factors,” Eielson said. She credited proactive parents, the health department conducting several large mass vaccination clinics of Pfizer vaccines at New Canaan High School and Luizzi’s assistance with messaging to all the parents and students.
Eielson also attributes the town’s success with high vaccination rates for youth to sports coaches who have been “advocating vaccines to keep players from getting sick and out of quarantine, so games and practices are not missed.”
Darien has high vaccination rates for the 12-17 age group as well, with 95.6 percent having received at least one dose of the vaccine and 86.4 percent fully vaccinated. Westport has a 92.7 percent vaccination rate for those in that age range with one dose of the vaccine, while 83.8 percent of them are fully vaccinated.
Discrepancies may be seen in the data. Town populations for the various towns are based on the 2014 state annual estimates, according to the state website. The state lists data of 157 of the 169 towns in Connecticut, since not all the data was available.
The numbers can also have inconsistencies since “some residents received their first dose with the town’s Health Department and second dose elsewhere, or vice versa,” Moynihan said. Also, “J&J is single dose, so they are fully vaccinated after a single dose.”
The town has higher vaccination rates than bordering and nearby Connecticut towns for the 12 to 17 year-old children. Wilton has 75.8 percent of the age group fully vaccinated,
Stamford has 58.3 percent fully vaccinated and Ridgefield has 58.8 percent fully vaccinated.
“I feel it has been a team effort with the first selectman’s outcall messages promoting the vaccine clinics and Dr. Luizzi messaging through the schools and the health department continuing to administer Pfizer daily in our office,” Eielson said.
The town has 76.6 percent of its total population with at least one dose and 70.3 percent fully vaccinated
The town has also seen a slight uptick in positive COVID-19 cases and has canceled the Fourth of July celebrations that had been postponed several times, bhowever it does not expect to see a return of requiring masks around town.
One-dose vaccination rates for other ages in town are even higher than for the younger group. 99.4 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds have had their first vaccine, 99.8 percent of the 25 to 44 age group have had one dose, 86.8 percent of 45 to 64 years old have had their first dose and 99.7 percent of those 65 and older have had their first dose.
Fully vaccinated rates include 84.2 percent of young adults 18 to 24 years old, 92.7 percent of residents aged 25 to 44, 81.1 percent of residents aged 45 to 64 and 93.3 percent of those aged 65 and older.