As CT Opens COVID-19 Vaccines to Residents 16+, Priority On Those With High-Risk Conditions – NBC Connecticut

Priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine will be given to people ages 16 to 44 with specific medically high-risk conditions starting April 1, according to Governor Ned Lamont.

Connecticut residents with the following conditions will be given priority in registering for the vaccine:

This prioritization will include roughly 10,000 residents who have not yet received the vaccine.

Full coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak and how it impacts you

Priority will also be given to those with "intellectual and developmental disabilities," the governor said in a news conference Monday. He said there will be dedicated clinics organized by the Department of Developmental Services.

About 9,000 individuals will make up this prioritization group, according to state officials. This does not include individuals who have already received the vaccine who fall into this group.

"Different hospitals are going to handle this differently," said Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe.

Lamont also noted that many colleges and universities will hold Johnson & Johnson clinics in early May before the end of the spring semester.

High schoolers will have access to the vaccine through Pfizer clinics for students 16 and up. The governor said alliance school districts will hold clinics starting April 19 through May 7. All other interested school districts will be allowed to hold vaccine clinics in the month of May.

The governor said Connecticut's COVID-19 positivity rate is at 3.53% as the state prepares to roll out vaccines to everyone 16 and over later this week.

The new group of eligibility will include around 1.3 million residents. Within that group, about 200,000 residents will have already received at least a first dose before April 1 because of eligibility from their employment, including educators or health care workers, according to Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe.

Over the past three days, 18 more people have died of the virus, bringing the death toll to 7,883.

Hospitalizations have also reached a high not seen in nearly a month. With an additional 42 hospitalizations, there are now a total of 498 in the state.

Connecticut continues to test thousands of people each day for the virus. With over 91,000 COVID-19 tests performed since Friday, 3,229 came back positive.

President Joe Biden on Monday urged states that had lifted the mask mandate to reinstate it as COVID-19 cases rise in parts of the country. Im reiterating my call for every governor, mayor and local leader to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate, Biden said. "Please, this is not politics.

More than 1.8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across the state.

Of that number, 1,189,197 are first or single doses and 684,200 are second doses.

Below is a breakdown of what percentage of people have received the vaccine by age group:

Lamont said over 240,000 first doses have been administered this past week alone.

By phone: Call Connecticuts Vaccine Appointment Assist Line at 877-918-2224, seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for scheduling at select sites.

Online: Schedule a COVID-19 vaccination appointment inVAMS, the Vaccine Administration Management System.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday that new data shows that the Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines both show high levels of effectiveness after one dose and were successful in preventing both symptomatic and asymptotic infections.

See more here:

As CT Opens COVID-19 Vaccines to Residents 16+, Priority On Those With High-Risk Conditions - NBC Connecticut