Expert: COVID boosters in high demand
Ample supply as 32K doses administered
While providers say demand for COVID boosters has been high, the infrastructure and process honed over the last nine months appears to have eased the rollout.
A little more than two weeks into the process, few issues have been identified as thousands seek boosters to address potential waning COVID-19 immunity heading into one of the worst times of year for respiratory diseases.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s office said last week about 7 percent of eligible residents age 65 and older had received the booster. But a larger percentage remains unclear since federal regulators have given somewhat broad eligibility for boosters, including frontline workers, people who live or work in situations that could increase the risk of COVID-19 and those with certain underlying medical conditions.
In the past week, the state Department of Public Health said roughly 32,000 booster doses have been administered. This number is still thousands lower than the weekly vaccine
administration numbers before the booster was approved, data shows.
While boosters were only approved for Pfizer-BioNTech, that mRNA vaccine has been widely used since the program started in Connecticut in December 2020.
At Yale New Haven Health, one of the largest vaccine providers in the state, demand has been substantial for booster shots, according to Dr. Ohm Deshpande, associate chief clinical officer.
Yale New Haven has been running three large sites in New Haven, Bridgeport and Greenwich, along with smaller satellite vaccine operations across the network.
“We are seeing some pretty strong uptake and a high degree of utilization everywhere we administered Pfizer shots,” Deshpande said.
While Pfizer was widely used in New Haven and Greenwich, Moderna’s two-dose vaccine was administered more often in Bridgeport during the early stages of the rollout, Deshpande said.
Community Health Centers, which operated mass vaccination sites across the state during the initial vaccine rollout, has also seen substantial demand for the booster.
“We are seeing strong and steady interest. We are providing boosters only to CHC patients at our facilities, and offer them to the public at our daily mobile vaccination locations,” said Leslie Gianelli, a spokesperson for CHC.
Though there has been considerable demand for the booster, officials are not concerned about supply, unlike when the vaccine was first offered.
“I think the supply is good . ... I don’t worry about vaccine supply, unlike eight months ago,” Lamont said last week.
Officials said appointments are readily available, and given that there are more than 800 vaccine providers across the state, people can shop around for the time slot that works for them.
While demand has been high for some providers, Hartford HealthCare officials said it has not been as significant as they anticipated.
“We started with those that were immune compromised and in our outreach we've seen a steady stream, but it's certainly not as robust as we may have intended," said Dr. James Cardon, Hartford HealthCare’s chief clinical integration officer.
He said since additional doses had been expanded to include booster shots for some people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the hospital system has been administering around 3,000 doses per week.
"Again, plenty of capacity, you can walk up or create an appointment — your choice," Cardon said.
While boosters are limited to one vaccine, this rollout may expand as the Food and Drug Administration reviews requests from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Both vaccine makers had submitted data to regulators showing an increase in immune response from boosters for their vaccines.
DPH notified providers that the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet this week to discuss boosters from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Though there has been substantial support from leaders, including President Joe Biden, some medical experts have challenged whether boosters are necessary. It also remains unclear if the scope of eligibility for boosters will expand to include more groups.