CT Vaccine Rollout: Advisory Group Debates Priority List

CONNECTICUT — Demand for the coronavirus vaccine will likely outpace supply for some time to come in Connecticut and that means the state will have to decide who is on the priority list. A subcommittee of the state's vaccine advisory group is working to determine how best to balance the need to vaccinate the most vulnerable with those most at risk for contracting the virus.

“What makes the work of this committee challenging is that adding people to a phase results in a de facto trade-off for the other people in that phase,” Acting Department of Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford said. “So to the extent that we add large populations in 1b, it will make this period longer…”

Ultimately Gov. Ned Lamont will have the final say on the vaccination program. He indicated Monday he would rely heavily on the vaccine advisory group’s recommendations. The group didn't come up with a final recommendation at its Tuesday meeting, but did come to a consensus to add congregate settings to 1b, including prisoners and staff.

The CDC suggests that states place people over the age of 75 fall into 1b and the group broadly affirmed that recommendation.

The CDC also lists frontline essential workers as a 1b priority including, first responders, education, food and agriculture, manufacturing, corrections workers, U.S. Postal service workers, public transit and grocery store workers. The group had wide consensus on adding those to Connecticut's list. It also broadly agreed to add food service workers and sanitation workers to 1b.

There wasn't broad consensus on whether people younger than 75 who have comorbidities should fall into 1b or the 1c group.

Around 275,000 people in Connecticut are over the age of 75 and another 530,000 people meet the CDC’s definition of frontline essential workers. It would take around nine to 10 weeks to vaccinate the group if 60 percent opted to get vaccinated and vaccine supplies remained stable, said Benjamin Bechtolsheim, DPH director of the coronavirus vaccination program. The rate would increase if vaccine production was boosted and would decrease if more people opted to get vaccinated.

Around 50,000 people in Connecticut live in congregate settings such as prisons and inpatient healthcare settings. It would take around a week to vaccinate the group, Bechtolsheim said.

There are no hard set dates on when the state would transition from one vaccine phase to the next, Gifford said. As demand drops and available appointment slots go unfilled the state will open up to the next phase.

The CDC suggests phase 1c should consist of people between the ages of 65 and 74, other essential workers and people between the ages of 16 and 64 with comorbidities.

Elderly people are more likely to die from the coronavirus in Connecticut and across the U.S. In Connecticut around 59 percent of coronavirus deaths are among people 80 and over, according to DPH data.

Connecticut is projected to finish its first round of coronavirus vaccines at nursing homes by the end of the week. Nursing homes residents make up more than half of the state’s coronavirus deaths, according to DPH data. Many of those deaths happened during the first coronavirus wave.

There was also some discussion from the advisory group about racial impacts of vaccine distribution. Black people in Connecticut are dying at more than twice the rate of white residents when adjusted for age, according to DPH data. There are 242 black coronavirus deaths per 100,000 population compared to 188 for Hispanics and 102 for whites.

The age adjustment takes into account that the median white population age in Connecticut is 47 years old, while it’s 34 for non-Hispanic black people and 29 years among Hispanic people.

Age versus spread

One big question is whether the coronavirus vaccine will prevent or reduce transmission of the virus or if it will only protect those who are vaccinated. Several research studies are being conducted to determine the answer to that question. Current research suggests the vaccines are highly effective at preventing the virus from spreading out of control throughout the body, but more research is needed to determine whether it prevents the virus from replicating in the nose and mouth.

“We actually don’t know how well the vaccine prevents spread at this point,” said advisory member Zita Lazzarini with UConn Health during the meeting. “We may be preventing the disabling of workers...by vaccinating them, but we don’t absolutely know that it prevents them from spreading,”

The CDC has said its recommendations on vaccine distribution could change if more data comes out on the vaccine’s effectiveness at preventing transmission.

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