White House Sounds Off On Lamont's Coronavirus Vaccine Decision

CONNECTICUT — White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden's administration stands by the federal recommendations to prioritize pre-existing conditions and front-line essential workers first.

"We make recommendations at the federal level for a reason because there are groups that we feel should be prioritized...obviously governors make different choices about the prioritization and the prioritization order, but we stand by the guidelines we've recommended at a national level," Psaki said at Wednesday's White House press briefing when asked about Lamont's decision.

Separately, Gov. Ned Lamont’s Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe defended the recent decision to move to an age-based system for future coronavirus vaccination eligibility instead of putting front-line essential workers and people with pre-existing conditions first.

One source of frustration was the sudden change in vaccine strategy. Lamont indicated as late as Thursday that essential workers and people with certain medical conditions could expect to hear within the next week about when they will become eligible.

“What I can tell you is go to the CDC website, they have a very clear list of quote comorbidities which should be prioritized alongside the essential workers, we’re going to work off that CDC list…” Lamont said at his Thursday news conference.

Four days later Lamont announced first via a news release that he was pumping the brakes on the system and instead would go with a simpler age-based eligibility list. Frustration was reminiscent of Lamont’s decision to push back the hair salon and barbershop reopening date with just a couple of days notice — the decision led to a mad dash of appointment rescheduling for the salons and barbershops that were ready to open May 20.

Lamont and other top state officials pitched the age-based system as one that would lead to a faster vaccine rollout and one that captured the majority of people with pre-existing conditions. Around 96 percent of coronavirus-related deaths in Connecticut have occurred in people 55 and over, according to the state Department of Public Health.

“We understand that there are individuals with some of those chronic conditions who do want to get vaccinated and that’s why we’re focusing on speed and simplicity because we want to be able to get to people as quickly as possible,” Acting DPH Commissioner Deidre Gifford said during Monday’s news conference.

Geballe laid out more of the state’s reasoning for the change in strategy on Twitter.

“Our heart goes out to everyone suffering and sacrificing during this pandemic, particularly those with serious medical conditions who have had to isolate from their family and friends to stay safe and who live in constant fear of the virus,” Geballe tweeted Wednesday.

The change in strategy boiled down to a few factors. One was that the pool of eligible people would’ve increased suddenly. Another was confusion over which conditions and jobs would qualify. Then there was concern about how a validation system at vaccine clinics could bog down the entire process, Geballe said.

The state Department of Public Health estimated that more than 800,000 residents between 16 and 64 would qualify under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention increased risk list, Geballe said. Adding conditions that might increase risk like asthma included more than two-thirds of the remaining adult population.

Adding front-line essential workers would increase the full eligibility pool to more than 1.5 million people.

The Hartford Courant wrote about people with pre-existing health conditions that were expecting vaccine eligibility in the very near future, only to find out on Monday that they would have to wait until May due to their age.

3 of the 5 specific medical conditions mentioned in the article, including Rheumatoid arthritis, past cancer, and asthma are not on the CDC list of conditions that put people at increased risk of severe illness from COVID.

3/12 https://t.co/oCQaQIgPTT
— Josh Geballe (@JoshGeballe) February 24, 2021

There was also a concern about equity, especially for people who have a pre-existing health condition, but don’t have a regular doctor.