Lamont says state on pace to meet vaccine goals

Day, The (New London, CT)

Jan. 5—Connecticut is one of the first states in the country to administer the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to more than 2% of its population.

Gov. Ned Lamont reported Monday that the state has received about 167,000 doses of the vaccine and has administered 75,180 of them.

While on the national level vaccinate distribution is falling short of projections set by the Trump administration, which had said 20 million people would be vaccinated by the end of 2020 as opposed to the 4 million who actually were, Lamont said Connecticut is on pace to vaccinate everyone in Phase 1a by the end of January. The first round of inoculations in the state prioritizes front-line health care workers and nursing home residents and staff.

By the end of this week, the state expects that all residents and staff in nursing homes who are willing to get vaccinated will have received their first shot, which Lamont called "an amazing first start."

Nursing home staff have been more reluctant than residents to get vaccinated, Lamont said, and as a result the state will soon roll out a public outreach campaign targeting them to emphasize the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

The governor's office doesn't have a breakdown of nursing home staff versus residents who have been vaccinated so far, but Josh Geballe, the state's chief operating officer, said the state expects to get that data from CVS and Walgreens, which are administering the vaccine in nursing homes per a contract with the federal government. He did not offer a timeline for when the state might receive that information but said the state would make that data public.

Vaccinations began at assisted living facilities in the state Monday, and some residents were also starting to receive their second dose of the vaccine, Lamont said. The Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System will administer its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Connecticut veterans Tuesday.

The state is still determining who will get vaccinated in the next round. Lamont said he would be relying heavily on the guidance of the advisory committee set up to provide recommendations on vaccine distribution and prioritization in making his decision.

How fast those in the next category, deemed Phase 1b, which includes essential workers, get innoculated will depend on the supply of the vaccine Connecticut receives, he said. The Trump administration has told Connecticut to expect to receive about 50,000 "first doses" of the vaccine on a weekly basis on top of the supply of "second doses" the state will also receive, Geballe said.

The plan is for those in Phase 1b to make appointments online or by phone to get vaccinated through their local pharmacy. Lamont said more details on that process would be released in the coming weeks.

An estimated $46 million in federal funding is coming to Connecticut for vaccine distribution under the coronavirus stimulus package passed by Congress in the waning days of 2020. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, who joined Lamont virtually at his Monday news briefing, said she expects one of the first undertakings of the Biden administration will be to ask Congress for additional funding for vaccine distribution.

In Connecticut, more than 85 sites are now administering the vaccine. The sites can make orders on a weekly basis, and Geballe said they are only receiving the number of doses they can administer in that amount of time.

As the vaccine rollout continues in Connecticut, the state's daily positivity rate has dipped to 5.29% after spiking last week to 9%. The state on Monday reported an additional 55 coronavirus-related hospitalizations and another 69 coronavirus-linked deaths since Friday.

An additional 450 COVID-19 cases in New London County were reported over the weekend. Hospitalizations in the county decreased by one to 87 over the weekend while coronavirus-linked deaths increased by nine, bringing the death toll in the county to 263.

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