‘I was next in line’

City resident disappointed change in vaccine eligibility delays his chance for shot

TORRINGTON — The governor’s decision to change the eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines was good news for some groups, but not for city resident Timothy Gaynor.

Gaynor, and his wife, Nicole, are not happy about it at all.

“I work in an area that was hit hard,” Timothy Gaynor said. “I feel like the people who work and live in high risk areas should have been considered first.”

Gov. Ned Lamont Monday switched the state to an agebased system of vaccine eligibility in Connecticut, which will allow those aged 55 to 64 to begin getting their doses beginning March 1. Teachers and childcare workers also are eligible.

Timothy Gaynor said he was very disappointed about the change.

“It makes me upset that we were told the vaccines would be distributed to essential workers, and then it was changed when I was next in line,” he said.

Gaynor said the change to

using age groups to determine eligibility doesn’t seem fair.

“Everyone who wants to be vaccinated should be able to,” Timothy

Gaynor said.

Nicole Gaynor said she was eligible because she works at the optometry practice. “We have twin boys who are 5,” she said. “And I got the shot

because I work in the medical field.”

But Nicole Gaynor said she also is very concerned because her husband is working for a manufacturing company in Bridgeport and has to travel back and forth each day.

“He’s been told all along that as soon as the vaccine is available, he’s getting it,” she said.

Her husband’s job, she said, has never shut down in spite of the pandemic. She did not name the company.

“They didn’t even slow down, not at all,” she said. “His work has never closed, and he’s been working through the entire pandemic. He even has travel papers, so in case he got pulled over, he could show them and say that he was essential.”

“I would deem him essential,” she said.

Nicole Gaynor said her mother-in-law, who lives in a nursing home, and her parents, have also been vaccinated. “My mom drives for a public health agency, so she was eligible. But my dad hasn’t left the house since last year, and he’s getting his.

“I feel like there could be a better way to establish who gets it,” Gaynor said. “I don’t think age is the right approach. All workers should get it. If you’re not deemed essential, you shouldn’t be going anywhere anyway, right?”

Timothy Gaynor