More Vaccine Doses, And A New Brand, Coming To CT: Lamont

CONNECTICUT — A lot more doses of coronavirus vaccine, many with a new brand name on the label, will be available in Connecticut next week, according to Gov. Ned Lamont.

Pending authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration, the state will receive 30,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The state Department of Public Health could accept delivery as early as this weekend.

Another 100,000 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer medicines are already in the pipeline for delivery next week. On Twitter, Lamont said the unprecedented influx of vaccines was "big news in our efforts to speed up distribution." Previously, the governor had blamed the slow rollout of the medicine on the scarcity of the new vaccine.

During a news conference on Thursday, Lamont said the news took him by surprise.

"We had anticipated we would be getting J&J vaccine sometime in March, but I didn't know we were going to be getting it this fast, and I didn't know we would be getting 30,000 (doses). This is all positive news."

The latest vaccine requires just one dose, unlike its predecessors which need two to be effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been shown to be 66 percent protective against moderate to severe COVID-19 infection in a multicountry study, 85 percent effective in protecting against severe disease. Johns Hopkins has reported that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines show approximately 95 percent efficacy at preventing both mild and severe symptoms of COVID-19.

With an additional choice now in the marketplace, the governor warned against brand shopping: "We've got enough complications in this process."

"J&J vaccine, as well as Pfizer and Moderna, are extraordinarily effective," Lamont said. The latest vaccine "prevented all fatalities and all real complications. I think you should be confident that any of these vaccines will get the job done safely and effectively."

New Phase of Vaccine Rollout Begins Monday

The next phase of the vaccine rollout begins Monday, as residents between the ages of 55 and 64, as well as school system employees and child care workers, become eligible to receive the medicine. The new chapter breaks from the playbook established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which prioritizes by "essential worker" job function and pre-existing medical conditions, once the most elderly have been inoculated.

On Thursday, Disability Rights Connecticut filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, calling on the agency to "immediately investigate and issue findings on an expedited basis" the state's new vaccine rollout plan. DRCT claims that the state's new policy "constitutes disability discrimination in violation of federal law."

Lamont has defended Connecticut's age-based system as one that would lead to a faster vaccine rollout and best protected the older population, those with the majority of people with pre-existing conditions.

On Thursday, Lamont said the federal guidelines didn't make sense for his state.

"The CDC had an original plan that included a whole variety of workers that would have included about two-thirds of the adult population of the State of Connecticut. It was not a prioritization plan at all. What we have right now with teachers and populations 55 and above addresses those most in need and most at risk," Lamont said.

Around 96 percent of coronavirus-related deaths in Connecticut have occurred in people 55 and over, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Other states which are adhering to the federal recommendations are finding it "so freaking complicated," according to Lamont.

In her complaint, DRCT Executive Director Deborah Dorfman, conceded Lamont's way was easier, but not better: "Connecticut’s new policy has apparently been developed in the belief that it would be easier to administer. But merely because it may be easier does not make it right. And this policy is not only an outlier nationally, it blatantly disregards CDC policy guidelines, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the rights of individuals with disabilities."

Schools On the Fast Track
Lamont predicted that all school system employees would have at least their first dose of one of the vaccines by the end of March, but said there was no top-down governance on how the medicine would be administered.

"It's up to each superintendent," Lamont said. "Every school system's going to do it their own way."