Officials say get vaccine — for flu
Doctors warn ‘more severe’ season may be upcoming
STAMFORD — After spending months pushing the COVID vaccine at every park, clinic and barbershop in Stamford, the city is turning a new leaf.
Its next mission? Making sure people get their flu vaccines too.
On the same day city officials celebrated the formal end of its “barbershop educa
tion initiative,” the local Department of Health marked the start of flu season with a clinic at the Lathon Wilder Community Center. There, familiar talking points about the importance of vaccines took center stage.
“Vaccines are one of the greatest scientific advancements that our species has ever made,” Mayor David Martin said to a cluster of nurses, healthcare professionals and community members before taking the plunge and getting his flu shot. “It has probably saved more lives than anything, with maybe the possible exception of antibiotics.”
Backed by acting Director of Health Jody Bishop-Pullan, city medical adviser Dr. Henry Yoon and Dr. Asha Shah, director of infectious disease at Stamford Health, Martin extolled the benefits of prompt vaccination against the seasonal flu.
After a weak flu season in 2020 bolstered by extensive masking and social distancing protocols due to COVID-19, Shah said the 2021 flu season could hit the community hard.
“The state Department of Health has predicted that this may be a bit of a more severe flu season because we did not see any flu last year,” Shah said. The dearth of infections translates into low immunity levels among residents this year, meaning more people could get ill (or get sick more intensely).
Shah hopes that the year of pro-vaccine campaigning on the COVID shot’s behalf translates into more enthusiasm for the flu shot heading into peak infection season, which runs through the fall and winter. Because, even though flu season hasn’t truly begun yet, Stamford’s seen some proof that extensive, pro-vaccine education campaigns can make waves in the community.
Just two hours after observing the unofficial start of flu season, Martin stood in front of a massive chart showing local vaccination rates as of early September. Though this time, the mayor stood alongside special assistant Laura Burwick and leaders from Community Health Center, his message was fundamentally the same.
“The reality is is that these vaccines are extremely safe, and they have enormous effectiveness in sort of stopping the spread,” Martin said to owners from Stamford Barbershop and Superior Barbershop. The two outfits operate on the East Side and West Side, respectively. Both participated in Stamford’s “Cut Out COVID” campaign, which sought to increase vaccination rates in neighborhoods with low uptake by encouraging stylists to talk about the shot with their clients in late August and early September.
According to estimates from Martin, at least 70 people between August and September cited the program as the reason they got vaccinated. But from a macro perspective, the gains were even more prominent. One census tract on the West Side — 215 — saw a 30 percent increase in vaccinated individuals between May 20 and Sept. 8, according to data collected by the mayor’s office. Across all census tracts, Stamford on average saw a 14.41 point increase in vaccination during the same time period. The mayor admitted how impossible it is to isolate the barbershop program’s impacts. Still, he depicted it as part of the larger ecosystem of vaccine education and distribution in socially vulnerable communities.
“I don’t know how much of this is due to the barbershop program because we’re doing lots of things,” he said. “Reality is, we are moving the needle, and we moved the needle more in these areas than perhaps any other area in the state.”
Now, city government is keen to replicate that success with an entirely different virus.