CT Governor "Accepts Challenge" To Vaccinate All Adults By May

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont has thrown his support behind President Joe Biden's vision of having all U.S. adults vaccinated against the coronavirus by May 1.

The president made his plea for states to swiftly widen vaccine eligibility during a prime time address to the nation Thursday evening, his first since taking office in January.

"If we do this together, by July the Fourth, there's a good chance you, your families and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout or a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day," Biden said.

Lamont praised the speech and the president's "aggressive goal" as indicative of "the kind of leadership that is necessary to get our state and our country back to normal."

The federal government has been allocating the vaccine supply to the states, but has been relying upon the state governments to manage the logistics of getting the medicine into local arms.

"On behalf of the people of Connecticut: I accept this challenge. I also echo the President’s call for each of us to get our vaccine as soon as we are eligible. We will work with our providers to ensure they are doing everything necessary to achieve an equitable distribution as we continue to see increased supply of vaccines. Reaching our underserved communities remains a priority of my administration and we will do everything we can to get as many vaccines administered as we can in the coming weeks," Lamont said in a statement released Friday morning.

The governor already announced on Thursday that Connecticut would be accelerating vaccination eligibility for everyone 16 and older to within about six weeks, or around late April. The state switched to an age-based eligibility tier system earlier this month, and the 16+ group is scheduled to be the last one in the vaccine rollout. The three coronavirus vaccines currently available in the state have not yet been cleared for use by anyone under the age of 16.

The president delivered his address the same day he signed into law a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. As part of the "American Rescue Plan," a third round of stimulus checks are scheduled to start dropping into eligible Americans' bank accounts as early as this weekend.

"I thank President Biden for this approach and for working to end this pandemic, supporting families and small businesses, and working to get our economy back on solid ground. I, too, look forward to Independence Day so we can celebrate with family and friends our collective achievement of getting back to normal," Lamont said.