CT’s Vaccine Program Expands To Those 55+, Teachers On Monday

CONNECTICUT — On Monday, the state will plow ahead with its plan to vaccinate teachers, school staff, professional child care providers and residents between 55 and 64 against the coronavirus. It's a strategy few would have predicted just one week ago.

Way back then, vaccine clinic doors were set to open in March for essential workers and those with certain pre-existing conditions, in accordance with the guidance the state had routinely followed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But that would have been a crazy-big number of people in Connecticut, and lead to some difficult discussions about who was "essential," according to Gov. Ned Lamont, who opted instead to "keep it simple."

As of Monday, anyone aged 55 and above may join health care personnel, medical first responders, long-term care facility residents and staff, in clinics at the business end of a vaccine needle. The state has partnered with the United Way of Connecticut 2-1-1 service to put together a searchable map of locations. Appointments can be made online anytime or by calling 877-918-2224 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. seven days a week. Local health districts will be providing clinics and managing the vaccinations for the teachers and school staff.

The Feds may have thought Connecticut switching to an aged-based vaccine rollout was dicey, but the governor of Maine thought it was a splendid idea. Gov. Janet Mills announced on Friday she would be following in Lamont's footsteps, right down to prioritizing vaccinations for preK-12 school staff.

The Pine Tree State may not be the last in the union to join on to Connecticut's simplified rollout strategy. During a news conference Thursday, Lamont said he had had conversations with other governors who found the federal vaccine roll-out recommendations "so freaking complicated," so maybe more will be hopping on the bandwagon.

Not just Maine's governor but, more importantly, Patch readers have blessed Lamont's course correction. In an unscientific (but fun!) poll of more than 1,600 of you, around 62 percent said you were on board with Lamont's decision to switch to an age-based system for vaccine distribution. Even more, 73 percent, scored the governor's overall vaccine roll-out efforts a four or better on a scale of 1-5

Teachers unions, who had placed Lamont in their cross-hairs, were naturally delighted at the news. Grocery store employees, who have been deemed "essential workers" since the start of the pandemic? Not so much. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 371 president Ronald Petronella told National Public Radio this week that members of his union should be allowed to jump the line alongside teachers, else grocery store customers be at risk of catching the virus from one of them. Petronella said that about 600 of his union's members, who are more likely to be people of color than Connecticut teachers, have been infected with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

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The state's poor showing getting the vaccine to Black and Hispanic communities who have been "disproportionately impacted by COVID-19" has been a sore point with Lamont, who once entertained prioritizing race in the vaccine rollout. On Friday, the state Department of Public Health added race information to its weekly data drop on the vaccine rollout. These numbers show that just 3.2 percent of the state's black population have been fully vaccinated against the virus, versus 8 percent of the white population.

Regardless of who receives the vaccine, there will be much more available to give out as of this week. Lamont said his state was earmarked to receive 30,000 doses of the new Johnson & Johnson medicine, only just approved by the Food & Drug Administration on Saturday afternoon. Unlike its predecessors from Pfizer and Moderna, the J&J vaccine requires just one dose to be completely effective, and doesn't need hi-tech low-temp refrigerators to store.

Still, with more than 500,000 state residents in the over 55 population and another 160,000 educators and childcare workers, the state expects demand for the vaccine will far outweigh the supply as this new tier opens Monday.

Getting through to make a vaccine appointment on the phone will be rough, Acting Commissioner of DPH, Diedre Gifford warned on Sunday. She anticipates "that our online scheduling systems and the Vaccine Appointment Assist Line will be inundated (Monday) and for the next several days with people eager to make their vaccine appointments."

The state Department of Public Health is rolling out the vaccine almost as quickly as it is identifying variant cases of the coronavirus. On Friday, another 21 cases of the U.K. coronavirus variant were reported. The new cases bring the total variant cases identified in Connecticut to 63. Researchers at the CDC say the U.K. variant spreads more easily and quickly than other variants of the virus.

Overall, coronavirus-related hospitalizations continued to trend downward with a 34-patient drop to 451 beds, as of Friday. The positivity rate hovered just above 2 percent all last week.