CT Will Keep To Age-Based Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout Plan

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont has doubled-down on the state's use of age as guidance in the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.

The clarification came when he was pressed on the possibility of favoring an earlier vaccination schedule for teachers, during a Connecticut National Public Radio interview Wednesday morning. The governor said the state had previously prioritized teachers for coronavirus testing, but had no formal plans to move them ahead in the line for the vaccine.

Following guidance handed down from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state recently completed the inoculation of first responders, healthcare personnel, and long-term care facility residents first. The Department of Public Health has been rolling out Phase 1b, which prioritized giving the vaccine to residents aged 75 and above, since the middle of January.

The next targets for the coronavirus vaccine are those 65 and over. After that, Lamont said, he would look to guidance from the federal government, but envisioned the state would remain focused on "under-served populations." The governor previously identified those as Black, Hispanic and poorer neighborhoods who have been statistically more susceptible to dying from COVID-19.

Teachers' organizations across the state and country have argued that vaccinating their membership was a step vital to reopening schools full-time for in-person learning. Chicago announced last month that public school teachers there would be receiving the vaccine in mid-February, in the face of a threat of a walkout there.

"There are a lot of groups that can make the case they are essential workers," Lamont said, citing those who worked in daycare, restaurants, manufacturing, defense industry. He added that he would do everything possible within the current guidance framework to make the teachers a priority, "especially the ones who are in the classroom every day."

Lamont said that those eligible for the vaccine would find it more easy to come by as retail pharmacies began to distribute the medicine. CVS announced Tuesday that the vaccine would ultimately be available at 12 of their pharmacies. That rollout is set to begin Feb. 11.

Although gratified the CVS initiative was underway, the governor said he had been hoping to see more retail outlets in "the more urban communities where the more vulnerable populations are."

"If you're 65 or over, and Black or brown, you probably have the same fatality rate as a white person 75 and over," Lamont said.

The age scale is a "lot cleaner to implement" than asking "are you a nurse or a daycare worker or do you have one or two co-morbidities?" Lamont explained. "But at the same time, we are going out to the most vulnerable communities to make sure that no one is left behind."

Previewing his 2021-22 budget presentation set for next week, Lamont said he was not looking to raise taxes, and that a statewide property tax was "not the way to go." Instead, new revenue sources, including taxes on legalized marijuana and online gaming, as well as a robust "rainy day fund," would provide "protection" for his spending plan.

"We have a transportation fund that's going bankrupt — no one likes me to bring that up," Lamont said. The governor teased a new "transportation climate initiative that's not going to be very popular" as another avenue of revenue for the state, but provided no other detail.