COVID-19 vaccine: Who’ll get it next?
GREENWICH — The big question with the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccination is who will get it next.
Distribution began last month with hospitals administering the vaccine to medical care workers as part of Phase 1A of the state’s rollout. Since then, patients and staff at nursing homes received vaccines, along with public safety workers and first responders.
For Phase 1B, state Rep. Harry Arora, a Republican from Greenwich, is pushing for all adults ages 65 and up in Connecticut to be vaccinated next, saying it would save lives because the mortality rate is much higher for seniors.
“Our driving factor is to reduce mortality,” Arora said in an interview Tuesday. “I’m not suggesting that front-line workers shouldn’t get it. We’re talking about the prioritization of the first eight weeks of the next phases. …
“If you are below 50, your probability of getting hurt is low. You won’t be in as much harm’s way of being hurt by the virus as those who are 65 and older. For them, the probability is much, much higher.”
The next steps are still uncertain, as the the Allocations Subcommittee of the state’s Vaccine Advisory Committee met Tuesday to discuss who would be vaccinated next.
Its recommendation, which will go to the full committee, called for vaccinating front-line essential workers, residents of congregate settings and adults ages 75 and older. That would include teachers, grocery store workers, food service workers and sanitation workers, as well as residents of homeless shelters, prisons, psychiatric facilities and group homes.
That largely follows the recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gov. Ned Lamont is to announce next steps by Thursday, with his decisions based on the recommendations of the subcommittee, said Lora Rae Anderson, director of communications for the state’s chief operating officer.
Seniors first?
But all adults age 65 and older, even those who are living independently and especially those who are working, should get the
vaccine Arora, R-151, immediately, who published said an op-ed and sent an e-blast to constituents outlining his plan.
By first vaccinating everyone over the age of 65 in Connecticut, it would “end most of the harm,” Arora said.
He estimated it would take five weeks and would use 90 percent of the available vaccine. The remaining 10 percent of the vaccine would go to health care workers directly exposed to COVID-19 patients as well as younger people with high vulnerability, he said. “If we go ahead with the CDC plan, the assumption is it would delay seniors getting the vaccine by two months for those above 75 and four months for those above 65,” Arora said. “If you take the mortality rate we as a country have had and use those assumptions, it shows how many lives could be lost by delay.”
State-by-state decisions
Distribution of the vaccine has been left to each state to decide. Florida and Texas opened it already to residents ages 65 and up, which has created long waits in some areas and which bucks the CDC’s recommendation that front-line essential workers such as teachers and people older than 75 should be vaccinated next.
Greenwich resident Joe Kaliko, who has been a member of Connecticut’s Medical Advisory Board, has also endorsed making all seniors a priority for the vaccine. Making it be available in Phase 1B for seniors 65 and up would be more effective than vaccinating those who are deemed an “essential worker,” he said.
“That would make distribution so much easier,” Kaliko said. “You could just go to a place that has the vaccine, show them your ID that you’re 65 or older and then get the shot.
“And while that’s being done, the state can come up with a better defined distribution model for others.”