First Coronavirus Vaccines Administered In CT

CONNECTICUT — Connecticut began its monumental coronavirus vaccine effort Monday with the first doses being administered to frontline healthcare workers and hospital staff. Doctors with Hartford Healthcare hailed the vaccine development and arrival as one of the most prodigious moments in modern medical history.

“I think it is literally nothing short of the equivalent of putting a human being on the moon,” said Dr. Patrick, Troy, a pulmonologist at Hartford Hospital, adding that he hadn’t slept the night before out of excitement for the vaccine shipment.

Hartford Healthcare vaccinated the first members of its staff with the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine Monday morning, just nine months and one day after Hartford Hospital admitted its first COVID-19 patient.

The group vaccinated Monday included doctors, nurses, food service workers, respiratory therapists, janitorial staff and others who are most likely to come into direct contact with coronavirus patients.

Doctors and other medical staff at the event hailed the vaccine’s arrival as their best tool in the battle against the virus, especially given its 95 percent effectiveness rate.

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“The flu vaccine has helped exponentially over the last few decades in reducing the mortality for flu and average flu vaccine efficacy is about… 45 to 60 percent,” said Keith Grant, Hartford HealthCare system director for infection prevention. “We have a vaccine that is 95 percent [effective.]”

Hartford Healthcare received its first vaccine shipment around 9 a.m.

The first vaccinations Monday were a big moment for Connecticut, but the battle against coronavirus is far from over, Gov. Ned Lamont said.

“We see the end zone, but we got a lot more blocking and tackling to do,” Lamont said. “We got a lot more wearing of the mask to do, we’ve got a lot more being careful to do, especially during the holiday season.”

Lamont thanked medical staff for their hard efforts over the past nine months and the vaccine research and development team at Pfizer’s Groton campus.

Hartford Healthcare’s clinical pharmacy and medical staff leadership have also done a review on the vaccine research and found it to be safe and effective, said Eric Arlia, director of systems pharmacy.

“I just want everyone to know that we have tremendous confidence in the vaccine, the process followed good scientific principles,” he said.

The speed at which the vaccine was developed was mainly due to the new messenger RNA technology and an intense organizational effort for clinical trials, Arlia said.

Trinity Health expects vaccine shipment Tuesday

Trinity Health of New England expects to receive around 2,000 vaccine doses Tuesday morning including some for other hospitals such as Waterbury, Gaylord and Day Kimball hospitals, said Dr. Reginald Eadie, president and CEO.

Vaccinations of frontline workers will begin shortly after receipt of the vaccine. The health system acquired a massive ultracold freeze capable of holding 600,000 vaccine vials, which equates to 3 million doses. Trinity will store Pfizer vaccines for other hospital systems that lack the capacity.

Hospital staff are being cohorted into separate groups for the vaccine so not every person in a single department would get the vaccine on the same day, said Dr. Syed Hussain, chief clinical officer for Trinity Health.

Trinity Health expects to get enough vaccine doses by the end of December or early January for all its 11,000 health care colleagues and providers as long as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants Moderna’s vaccine candidate emergency use authorization.

Trinity is also vaccinating independent health care providers and their staff in the community who don’t have an affiliation with a larger health care system.

How the vaccine could affect the future

The general trend of coronavirus waves has first been to see a rise in the infection rate followed by more hospitalizations and eventually deaths, Eadie said. The rise in cases during Connecticut’s second wave occurred shortly after Halloween and another rise after Thanksgiving.

There is a worry about Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve, Three Kings Day and Kwanzaa bringing people together for in-person celebrations, Eadie said.

The vaccine’s effect on public health will likely work in the reverse order, Eadie said. First, the number of deaths will decline, followed by hospitalizations and eventually the infection rate will drop as more people are vaccinated.

However, that will depend on a large percent of the population being vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity, Eadie said. Health officials are hoping that occurs by late summer or the early fall of 2021.

“Even though the vaccine is here, which is something we should all be elated about, there is still vaccine hesitancy that exists in the state,” he said.

Trinity, Yale New Haven Health and Nuvance Health are teaming up for a vaccination educational campaign in Connecticut.