Teachers, correctional staff among those recommended for next round of vaccines by CT advisory group

The Allocations Subcommittee of Connecticut”™s Covid-19 vaccine advisory group has endorsed suggestions by the national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on who will be eligible for the next wave of vaccinations.

The ACIP, which is a committee within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), prioritizes teachers, correctional staff, postal staff, grocery store employees and other “essential workers,” and persons ages 75 and older, for what is being called Phase 1B of the vaccine distribution plan, slated to start at the end of the month.

The Connecticut subcommittee has also recommended adding health department inspectors, food service and food delivery workers, and wastewater and sanitation workers to Phase 1B.

Phase 1A, already underway, has seen administration of vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to health care workers, hospital employees and long-term care residents and staff. According to Gov. Ned Lamont, all residents and staff willing to receive a vaccination in Connecticut”™s 211 nursing homes will have done so by the end of this week.

Both vaccines require a second injection, usually administered three to four weeks after the first one.

As of yesterday, 75,946 doses have been administered. While that puts Connecticut 23^rd among all states, its ratio per 100,000 people ”“ 2,130.15 ”“ is among the nation”™s highest. California and New York have delivered the most doses: 451,702 and 451,210, respectively.

The CDC advisory committee recommends that Phase 1C include persons ages 65”“74; those 16”“64 with high-risk medical conditions; and essential workers not included in the first two phases. Phase 1C is expected to start in mid to late spring.

Final decisions about who to include in each phase rest with each state.