By Paul Hughes, Republican-American
HARTFORD — Tens of thousands of people between the ages of 55 and 64 made appointments to get COVID-19 vaccine shots Monday on the first day the state vaccination program opened to this new age group.
Gov. Ned Lamont and top administration officials had no estimates Monday on how many newly eligible state residents were unable to get through online and telephone booking systems to make an appointment.
Due to the limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine, Lamont appealed for patience, saying it will likely take more than three weeks for a majority of this new age group to get a first vaccine shot.
“To ease the burden on the online and phone systems, we urge residents 55 and older to consider waiting a few days before seeking an appointment if they are able to do so,” said Dr. Deidre Gifford, the acting public health commissioner.
There are approximately 515,350 residents aged 55 to 64 who are now eligible to get vaccinated, according to population estimates. Lamont also extended eligibility to 160,000 employees of public schools, private schools and professional child care operations of all ages.
This is the largest of the first three groups to be vaccinated. The working assumption is 60% of each group will choose to get vaccinated. That equates to 405,210 people out of the potential pool of 675,350.
Lamont and aides said this week the state is expecting 130,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government, and pharmacies and federally qualified health centers are due to receive another 26,000 doses through a separate federal allocation.
The state’s shipment will include 39,000 of the newly available single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine in addition to the previously approved Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines that require two doses to be effective against the coronavirus.
Lamont observed that a single J&J dose is the equivalent of two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
“So, it is going to make a big difference. We’ll start getting those shots in the arm this week,” he said.
State officials are determining how the J&J vaccine will be deployed.
“I’ve got to tell you we just don’t know yet,” Lamont said.
ROUGHLY 1% OF STATE RESIDENTS have been fully vaccinated since the vaccination program was launched in mid-December.
A total of 963,943 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were administered through Sunday, including 627,788 first doses and 336,155 second doses. The estimated population ranges between 3.5 million and 3.6 million people.
Lamont a week ago Monday announced a switch to a largely age-based vaccination schedule that progresses to a new age group every three weeks, starting with people ages 55 to 64 on Monday. He also authorized vaccinations for school staff and child care workers.
Previously, the plan had been to vaccinate a final group of essential workers based on guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and people with selected pre-existing conditions that the CDC determined created increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.
Lamont continued Monday to present the revised age-based approach as a more effective, efficient and equitable approach to vaccine administration. But he said the limited flow of COVID-19 vaccine is going to dictate the pace of vaccine administration.
“It is about 600,000 people, and we don’t have that many vaccines we’re getting on a weekly basis,” Lamont said. “If we had followed the CDC guidelines it would have been 1.8 million people, and you would have been going out months. I think we’re going to be able to take care of the vast majority of the 55 and over folks over the course of the next three-plus weeks.”
The vaccination program first opened up to residents age 75 and older after critical hospital workers, nursing home residents and staff and emergency medical responders. Residents age 65 to 74 were the next group.
Lamont reported vaccines have been administered to 75% of the 75-and-older age group, and 52% of 65- to 74-year-olds have received vaccine shots. Both groups include residents of nursing homes and other long-term care and congregate settings.
CHANGES ARE COMING to the state’s coronavirus-related restrictions on businesses and its COVID-19 travel advisory because of improving public health conditions, Lamont said.
He said he plans to announce increases to capacity limits for restaurants, retail stores and other businesses at his next pandemic briefing on Thursday. He said he also expects to announce changes to the travel advisory that now applies to visitors from states and U.S. territories with the exceptions of New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
STATE HEALTH OFFICIALS on Monday reported 2,680 new cases of COVID-19 out 114,157 test results that were received between Friday and Sunday for a positive test rate of nearly 2.4%.
There now have been 282,626 cases reported since early last March, and more than 6.7 million molecular and antigen tests have been performed.
There was a net decline of 34 patients hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 to 417. This represents a nearly four-month low.
An additional 29 coronavirus-linked deaths reported over the weekend bought the death toll to 7,651.
The state reported Monday there have been 2,787 cases in Naugatuck, 711 in Prospect and 442 in Beacon Falls since last March.
There have been 87 coronavirus-related deaths in Naugatuck, six in Beacon Falls and three in Prospect.
Elio Gugliotti contributed to this report.
