Thomas Breen photo
Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur gets vaccinated on Dec. 28 at the city health department’s clinic.
City of New Haven
The city has vaccinated 2,190 eligible healthcare workers and first responders so far out of its Meadow Street clinic — and is preparing for a broader immunization push next week, as the state transitions into Phase 1B.
City Health Director Maritza Bond gave those updates Wednesday afternoon during the mayor’s latest Covid-19 virtual press conference, held online via Zoom and YouTube Live.
She said that the city Health Department has administered a total of 2,190 doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to eligible Phase 1A recipients—including healthcare workers and emergency first responders — since the department first opened its vaccination clinic at 54 Meadow St. on Dec. 28.
She said that the department has another 1,000 second doses on hand for those who have already received their first shots of the two-shot treatment. And she said the department has roughly 600 more doses that it plans to give out to eligible recipients who schedule in advance over the course of this week.
Zoom
Bond (pictured) said that the city — and the state — expect to begin Phase 1B of the governor’s vaccine rollout plan on Jan. 18, which is next Monday.
That group will include individuals 75 years of age and older, frontline essential workers, and congregate-setting residents and staff.
She defined frontline essential workers as people who work in early education, K‑12 education, transit, grocery stores, utilities, food and agriculture, public works and public health, and some retail, among others. The exact definition of “congregate setting members” is still to come, she said, but should include those who work and live at homeless shelters, group homes, mental health facilities, and corrections facilities.
“It’s a vast number of individuals,” she said about Phase 1B. Employers will be responsible for enrolling their rosters through the VAMS site (which can be found here.) Employees will then receive email updates with information about where and when they can get vaccinated.
Individuals 75 and older should start reaching out to their primary care doctors as soon as possible, Bond said, to see where and when they should be able to get vaccinated once 1B starts. They should also call a new hotline number at 1 – 877-918‑2224, which goes live on Thursday, if they have any questions about registering.
And Bond cautioned that Phase 1B may turn out to be even broader than initially envisioned — with the state currently considering lowering the age eligibility threshold to 65.
“We know that there’s going to be an inauguration next week. We know that there’s going to be a new administration,” she said about President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris. “And we expect that there will be massive amounts of vaccines released.”
While the health department is currently administering vaccines only at its Meadow Street clinic, Bond said that her department will likely add new vaccination sites citywide when Phase 1B starts.
Click here to read about where some of those sites may be, and about other details included in the city’s Covid-19 mass vaccination plan.
When asked for a breakdown of who exactly has received those first 2,190 vaccine doses from the health department, Bond and Mayor Justin Elicker said they’re not really sure.
They know that the people who have received those first doses are Phase 1A — eligible healthcare workers and emergency first responders. But the registration and data collection process is all done through the VAMS site. VAMS has provided no demographic information to date on age, race, location, or employer. So the city is relatively in the dark.
“This is a point of frustration,” Elicker said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have data either as the employer or the health department as to demographic information. We don’t have that information both for our own employees who have gotten vaccinated, or our residents who have gotten vaccinated.” He said he and the health department are pushing the state and federal government to let the city have access to that information.
No Known Inauguration Protests Planned For New Haven
On an unrelated matter, Police Chief Otoniel Reyes said during the presser that the city’s police department has been in close communication with state and federal law enforcement about prospective violent rallies slated to take place around the country in the coming days in the runup to Biden’s inauguration.
Right-wing militia groups across the country are planning on rallying in state capitals nationwide following last week’s storming of the Capitol in Washington D.C. at President Trump’s incitement.
“There are no known or credible threats to our area,” Reyes said. In conversations as recent as this morning, Reyes said, the FBI “suggested no information regarding any threats to our region or to New Haven. There are calls for protest in state Capitols.”
Also during the call, Elicker was asked for his reaction to the House of Representatives’ vote to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection against this nation’s government.
It was the right call, the mayor said. “We have to make a strong statement that what happened at the Capitol was totally unacceptable.”
