The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Docs have high hopes for vaccine
Lamont says Connecticut could get 20,000 doses by Dec. 14
Connecticut doctors are praising the speed in which a COVID-19 vaccine could be available, which could be as soon as a matter of weeks.
“The reality is this vaccine is a remarkable achievement in science,” said Dr. Patrick Troy, a pulmonologist with Hartford Healthcare. “It’s almost the medical parallel to like man landing on the moon.”
Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday state officials could begin distributing the first 20,000 doses of the vaccine by Dec. 14.
The governor was referring to a vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer and BioNTech that is awaiting emergency use authorization by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
Another 20,000 doses of a second vaccine candidate developed by Moderna will likely be available “a week later,” the governor said.
Troy said the vaccines have the potential to be a game-changer, explaining during a Tuesday news conference how surprised he was when the 95 percent effective rate was announced.
“I almost fell off my chair,” he said.
“When I woke up, I think it was late November, and that buzzline came across my phone to say, ‘Pfizer announces vaccine results,’ I remember holding my breath and thinking, ‘Oh please just let it be 60 percent effective,” he recalled.
Troy and other Connecticut health professionals are anxious for any sort of relief as they watch COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise.
The governor’s office on Tuesday reported 1,459 new infections that were found out of 24,831 new tests for a daily positivity rate of just under 6 percent.
The seven-day positivity rate stands at a little more than 4.7 percent.
An additional 54 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19, bringing
“By May or June, we should have enough vaccine for all Americans who require a vaccine.” Dr. Ajay Kumar, executive vice president and chief clinical officer for Hartford HealthCare
the total in the state to 1,152 — still below the peak hospitalization of 1,972 on April 21.
Health experts hope a vaccine will help bring some normalcy after a pandemic that has now claimed more than 5,000 lives in the state, including 21 more reported on Tuesday.
Both vaccine candidates, which use a similar process to trick the body into developing antibodies against the novel coronavirus, have shown high effectiveness in clinical trials.
Lora Rae Anderson, a spokeswoman for Connecticut’s Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe, said the Lamont administration will know more about Moderna’s vaccine after the FDA meets to consider the vaccine on Dec. 17.
If the vaccine is approved, it will likely be available “this month,” she said Tuesday.
How soon the vaccines are widely available to the general public is not yet known.
“By May or June, we should have enough vaccine for all Americans who require a vaccine,” said Dr. Ajay Kumar, executive vice president and chief clinical officer for Hartford HealthCare.
He said the vaccine program would be split into two phases.
In the first phase, the vaccine will be shipped “within about 24 hours” after its approval to state holding sites, Kumar said during a news conference Tuesday. “Very soon after that, it would be in the distribution sites such as Hartford Hospital.”
He said the organization is expecting the vaccine to be available anywhere from Dec. 10 to 15 “for utilization.”
That initial batch would be prioritized based on recommendations by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention for health care workers, first responders and “nursing homebound individuals,” Kumar said.
The second phase will open the vaccine up to the general public.
“That is something we don’t know,” Kumar admitted. He said around 40 million doses will be released by the end of December. Soon after, production of the vaccine will “kick in,” he said.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two shots spread out over several weeks.
Pfizer’s vaccine, in particular, must be stored at temperatures near minus-100 degrees — colder than the average temperature on Mars — to preserve the mRNA in the vaccine that triggers the body’s immune response.
Kumar said he believes vaccinations for the general public will begin in January after health care workers are vaccinated this month.
The governor plans to have Acting Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford explain the state’s distribution plan for the vaccine during his Thursday COVID news conference.
In an effort to provide support to school districts short-staffed due to COVID quarantines, Lamont on Tuesday issued a new executive order loosening restrictions on hiring short-term substitute teachers who do not have a bachelor’s degree. The move comes as several districts have been forced to close schools because they did not have enough teachers.
The order, the governor’s 83rd since the pandemic began, also enabled charitable organizations to sell alcohol for virtual fundraising events.
The order also resumes statutory requirements and deadlines for some state Supreme and Appelate court operations.