As the third coronavirus vaccine makes its way to Connecticut, state leaders continue to stress that more appointments will soon be available.
“They’re going to start arriving today and tomorrow and we’re going to see our first J&J vaccine clinic set up,” said Connecticut’s Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe.
The Yale New Haven Health System said it received the first doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine shipped to the state on Tuesday.
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Geballe is adamant that Monday’s scramble to sign-up for appointments will slow down as we get more supply.
“Every time we open up a new phase there’s a lot more people eligible than we have vaccine available that week.”
This week folks 55 to 64 years old, school staff, and childcare providers are eligible to get vaccinated.
Geballe believes they’ll be able to get their first shot over the next three weeks, as more doses become available.
He says this concept was apparent this Saturday when day-of appointments were available for the prior age groups.
“As we started to see open appointment slots not getting used, that’s the signal it’s time to move to the next phase because we don’t want to let any of these vaccines gather dusts in freezers.”
If you are in this newly eligible group, don’t get frustrated trying to sign up.
Geballe says take whatever appointment you can for now, even if it’s for months out. Then, keep checking online to get an earlier appointment.
When you do, make sure you cancel your original appointment.
And while Geballe says the state’s working on getting providers to disclose which vaccine you’ll be signing up for, local experts don’t suggest you shopping for around for a particular one.
All three are effective in preventing severe illness and death.
“I don’t want to convince people to take the vaccine, I want people to say look this is the right thing to do, I have all the knowledge and information and I’m ready to get the vaccination,” said Dr. Ajay Kumar, Hartford HealthCare‘s chief clinical officer, during a news conference Friday.
As we look for a light at the end of this long pandemic tunnel, Geballe says each vaccine puts us a step closer to putting the pandemic behind us.
