Hartford city and public school leaders made a public appeal Tuesday to get more city students vaccinated amid data showing less than a third of the district’s eligible children are fully vaccinated.
“We want to have everyone vaccinated. So the efforts will continue,” said superintendent Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez at a news conference at Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy.
Despite more than a year of worldwide vaccination efforts, Hartford's school system has more children unvaccinated than vaccinated. Just 31-percent of students district-wide have gotten their full series of COVID shots.
“Hesitancy still exists. There are still barriers whether it is that our families are busy, whether it is transportation barrier, whether it is just knowing where to go,” said Torres-Rodriguez.
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All week, families can come and get vaccinated at clinics set up inside dozens of city schools every evening from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. The clinics are administered by Griffin Health.
Evangielene DuVerger, a mother from Hartford, says she thought vaccinations among students were low but was surprised to hear just how low, which leaves her worried about students’ health.
“They’re highly compromised. They don’t have control of much. So it’s a low number,” she said.
Mayor Luke Bronin says they recognize families may still have concerns about vaccinating their children, but pointed to high adult vaccination rates to dispel concerns, since many families have at least one resident who is protected.
“They are safe, they are effective, and they are important. Hopefully that firsthand knowledge in almost every family will translate down into a greater willingness to get vaccinated, to get kids vaccinated,” said Bronin.
With the state's daily COVID-19 positivity rate ticking up over 3.5 percent Tuesday, city and school officials say they are bracing for another surge and hope more of their kids are protected against COVID before it comes.
"There’s all of those unknowns with COVID, the long term effects on your cardiovascular system, your brain development. It's just not worth the risk,” said Bronin.
