Here's How CT Will Roll Out COVID-19 Vaccine To 12-15 Year-Olds

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont has provided some more insight into how the state plans to roll out the coronavirus vaccine to 12-15 year olds.

Federal regulators gave the go-ahead on Monday for the Pfizer vaccine to be used on the youngest age tier so far during the rollout.

Connecticut Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe said he expected the state would receive guidance from the federal government on administration of the vaccine to the youths as early as Wednesday night, "and if that's the case, our providers will be ready the following day."

With the Pfizer vaccine being made available to a whole new tier of people as early as Thursday, providers such as CVS in Connecticut have been ramping up their supply, Geballe said during a news conference Monday.

"We'll be very well-prepared for that additional expansion," Geballe said, and residents should expect to see a focus on weekend availability for clinics.

"What we have learned, particularly in the last month and a half with vaccinated 15- and 16-year-olds, is that, since a parental guardian is required... weekend is really the preferred option."

Geballle said there would be "a lot of expanded access this weekend coming up, both at our mass vaccination sites but also at pharmacies, " and "a lot of options available for parents and their children to get vaccinated in the next week."

Acting commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Education, Charlene Russell-Tucker acknowledged that some parents who had no issue getting vaccinated themselves might have some hesitation when it came to their pre-teen children. She said the CSDE was working to provide school districts with as much information as possible to pass along to parents and assist them in making the decision to vaccinate their children.

Lamont described Connecticut as an "overall leader" in vaccinating young people, and expressed confidence that "over time" parents would understand that the coronavirus vaccine "allowed their children to get back to school safely." As of Monday, 50 percent of Connecticut residents aged 16-17 — 45 percent of those in the 18-24 age group — have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The governor reiterated that the state had current no plans to make the coronavirus vaccine mandatory for children in public or private schools, but stopped just short of ruling it out completely. He said such an order was his "least popular option, but I think people have got to be vaccinated, getting back into the classroom. I'm going to have a hard time getting teachers into that classroom if people are not vaccinated."

Moderna expects to get its own green light from the FDA once it concludes its U.S. study on 12-17 year-olds in the middle of this year.