When Will Connecticut Get More Of The Coronavirus Vaccine?

CONNECTICUT — The state's done a pretty stellar job rolling out the systems, personnel and infrastructure to administer the coronavirus vaccine over the past month.

Now all it needs is a lot more vaccine to administer.

Currently, the only coronavirus vaccines the federal government has approved are those manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna. Early last week, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said he thinks the U.S. is only a few weeks away from seeing approval of vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, and that should help with supply issues.

The scarcity of the medicine led Gov. Ned Lamont to amend the rollout early last week to refocus upon the most vulnerable in the population.

As of Monday, the vaccine became available only to the remnants of the phase 1a group (frontline healthcare workers, medical first responders, residents and staff of long term care facilities) and the new phase 1b cohort, those aged 75 and older.

Lamont said residents 65 and older will be vaccinated "in a couple of weeks," followed by front-line workers and people with high-risk conditions in February and early March. Where will the vaccine come from? The governor said Pfizer executives told him Thursday there is a chance the company could double its vaccine production by the end of February and double it again come the end of March.

The governor's abrupt gear-shifting led to some drama in Southbury on Wednesday, when more than 300 teachers and school staff received the vaccine in apparent defiance of the new guidance. Pomperaug Health District leaders said that their plan to vaccinate the educators had been placed in motion more than a week before Lamont's new vaccine schedule made the rounds.

So if not teachers, then who? Lamont said the rollout prioritizes the state's most vulnerable, and that includes the elderly and people of color. Both demographics have proven susceptible to virus-associated fatality.

The governor said he is directing the implementation be done in an "equitable way," and envisions vaccine distribution points focused in areas where residents and communities have barriers to access and care.

That's who's on the fast track to get the vaccine, but who's already been jabbed? The state began releasing those numbers this past week for the first time. Not surprisingly, the lion's share — a little over 36 percent — of the recipients are age 75 or older.

Compared to the rest of the nation, Connecticut has received its fair share of the available medicine, and local health officials have done a good job of getting it out the door and into residents' arms, based up the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As for the target — the coronavirus itself — trends improved slightly over the past week.

Danbury and New Haven public schools welcomed back some students for hybrid learning after being nearly exclusively remote since the start of the school year.

On Friday, the seven-day average positive test rate dropped to 5.2 percent. Net coronavirus hospitalizations dropped by 55 patients down to 1,069 Thursday. The state also saw a slight drop in the per capita daily coronavirus cases with 65.5 daily cases per 100,000 residents between Jan. 3 and Jan. 16 — the previous two-week daily average was 68.5.

Connecticut has also seen a slight dip in its statewide infection rate recently. The rate dropped to 65.5 daily infections per 100,000 residents between Jan. 3 and 16 — it had reached 68.5 between Dec. 27 and Jan. 9. The state uses the per capita indicator as one of its primary metrics to gauge the pandemic.

All Connecticut counties except New London County saw their infection rates dip as well.

Still, the stronger numbers weren't enough to convince Lamont to relax any indoor dining restrictions, as did his colleague Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker in a neighboring state. Baker announced the end of eateries' prohibition against taking food orders after 9:30 p.m., but kept the 25 percent indoor occupancy rules in place. Lamont signaled he wanted to review Connecticut's restaurant restrictions in a couple of weeks, after he saw what kind of damage the reopening of public schools, return of college students to campus and the return of winter high school sports did to the trends.