The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that nearly 46 percent of Connecticut’s 3.6 million residents are now fully vaccinated, which is among the highest in the country.
More than 1.6 million Connecticut residents are now considered fully-vaccinated, or about 45.5 percent of its population, according to the CDC data. Connecticut, which previously led the nation in terms of population fully vaccinated, fell slightly behind Maine, which has a little more than 46 percent of its residents vaccinated.
This comes as vaccination appointments begin to open to children between the ages of 12 and 15 following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanding the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Acting FDA head Dr. Janet Woodcock called the move “a significant step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” in a press release announcing the age-group expansion. “Today’s action allows for a younger population to be protected from COVID-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic,” her statement said.
During his Monday COVID-19 briefing, Gov. Ned Lamont noted that about half the state’s 16 and 17-year-olds have received at least a first shot of the vaccine — a statistic he cited as a good sign for the 12- to 15-year-old expansion.
“If we can do as well with that age group as we’re doing with the 16- and 17-year-olds, it is going to be a very good summer,” Lamont said.
Connecticut is also among the handful of states where more than 70 percent of adults have received at least one shot of a vaccine, nearly two months ahead of the July 4 goal President Joe Biden set for the nation.
About 71 percent of the state’s adult population have received at least one shot, according to the CDC, with just under 58 percent of the total state population having received at least one shot.
Compared with other states, Connecticut sits below Hawaii, Massachusetts and Vermont for the percentage of adults who have received at least one shot.
The Northeast in general, and the New England states in particular, stand out for high vaccination rates, especially when compared to much of the Southeast, the CDC data shows.
West Virginia, a state with about half of Connecticut’s population (and nearly four times as large in territory) that was touted as an early example of vaccine success is lagging in comparison. Like Connecticut, the state was among the earliest targeted by a federal plan to vaccinate residents and staff of nursing homes and other longterm care facilities. As of Monday, only about 37 percent of West Virgina’s population have received a shot.
But some communities in Connecticut are also lagging compared to the rest of the state. In Bridgeport and Hartford, among the largest cities in the state, less than a quarter of the population have been fully vaccinated, according to the state’s latest data as of last week.
In Mansfield, a town of a little more than 25,000 in Tolland County, roughly 30 percent of residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the lowest vaccine coverage in the state.
The data shows lower vaccine coverage rates in municipalities tends to coincide with communities identified as having an underserved population, according to the state data.
