Lamont Urges CT Residents To Get COVID-19 Booster Shot ASAP

CONNECTICUT — The Food & Drug Administration is poised to authorize Pfizer's COVID-19 booster shots for all adults 18 and older, but Gov. Ned Lamont is urging residents to get their third jab ASAP.

Once the FDA gives the go-ahead, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's vaccine advisory committee is expected to weigh in with its formal recommendation. That could happen as early as Friday. The CDC currently only recommends boosters for people age 65 and older or who are at high risk.

But COVID-19 changes everything, of course, and Connecticut has now joined a growing number of states and municipalities encouraging their residents to get a booster shot without delay. They are hoping to build a booster firewall against breakthrough cases which have been growing at a rapid rate.

"From my point of view, if you were vaccinated more than six months ago, you're not fully vaccinated," Lamont said.

The governor made his remarks Thursday morning at Rockville General Hospital in Vernon, during a news conference with Connecticut Department of Public Health commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani and other health officials.

Lamont said residents should get their booster shot "now, before Thanksgiving, before Christmas, before all those holidays, before we see what's going on in Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island and New York, and we'll be ready."

The Northeast has been the center of a coronavirus surge over the past month, according to CDC data.

Connecticut's coronavirus positivity rate spiked to a 3-month high in the numbers released by DPH Tuesday, but dropped to below 4 percent in the following day's data. Speaking in advance of her agency's official weekly data update, Juthani said the number of "red zone" towns had more than doubled in the latest set of numbers.

The number of residents hospitalized with COVID-19 has been climbing slowly but steadily since the end of October, and about 25-30 percent of those have been breakthrough cases.

Lamont said that employees of the state's Executive Branch who are required to be fully vaccinated may still consider the booster shot optional.

"In terms of mandates, we'll figure that our later when we've had some commentary from the CDC," Lamont said.

Under current emergency use authorization, anyone age 18 years or older who received Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is eligible for a booster if it has been at least two months since they received the one-shot vaccine. Residents who have completed the Pfizer or Moderna two-shot vaccine series at least six months ago are eligible for a booster if they are 65 years or older, 18 or older and live in long-term care settings, 18 or older and have underlying medical conditions, or 18 or older and work or live in high-risk settings.

COVID-19 vaccine booster shots are available at more than 800 pharmacies and health centers in Connecticut, according to state health officials. Lamont said that state health officials were working to expand the number of booster clinic sites at nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Find a location near you here, or call 800-232-0233 for assistance booking a booster appointment.