All hands on deck on vaccine rollout in Stamford – The Advocate

STAMFORD Like every Tuesday, Mayor David Martin grasped at a way to describe the magnitude of the pandemics impact on American life. This Tuesday, he likened the loss of life across the country to something deeply familiar to any Stamford resident: traffic.

Before the pandemic, the number of cars traversing the George Washington Bridge plus all the calls in the Lincoln Tunnel going both days was about 400,000 a day, Martin said during his weekly COVID-19 update for the city. Imagine if every single car that got under the George Washington Bridge or went into the Lincoln Tunnel never came out the other side.

With that grim milestone in mind, Martin emphasized that hope is on the way for Stamford residents as the city continues to expand its vaccination program through a partnership with Stamford Health, a collaborative effort announced by the healthcare system last Friday.

Stamford shuttered its own vaccine clinic in order to pool resources with the hospital, which is inoculating healthcare personnel, first responders, and people 75 and older at the Bennet Medical Center.

Its all hands on deck to ensure that we have one of the best vaccination programs out there, said Stamford Director of Public Safety Ted Jankowski.

Stamford Health CEO Kathleen Silard said the hospital has vaccinated approximately 600 people a day since Monday. She projected the figure will grow to 1,000 people a day by the end of the week.

When I went up to the site yesterday it really did my heart good to see our employees and the city employees working collaboratively together to be able to execute on this plan, Silard said Tuesday.

But for Martin, 1,000 people a day is only the beginning.

We are working on a second site that we hope to open in another week or two that would add another at least 1,000 a day, Martin said. On top of that, he put his weight behind opening a third vaccine site in Stamford that would allow the city to inoculate 20,000 people a week.

The city has yet to formally secure a location for its second mass testing site, according to a spokesperson for the mayor.

Both Silard and city officials emphasized that only people over the age of 75 and those eligible under Phase 1a can register for the vaccine, a rule Silard said she is determined to enforce.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced on Tuesday that Connecticut would take a tiered approach to Phase 1b to ensure that those with the highest risk receive the vaccine first. While adults between 65 and 74 and essential workers are also part of 1b, they likely will not receive the vaccine until February or March.

Silard reported that 90 percent of the doses delivered to Stamford Hospital by the federal government are administered to the public.

So far, Silard said that Stamford Health has administered 6,900 unique doses of the vaccine.

Stamford seven-day average for COVID-19 cases sits at 85 new cases per day. Four Stamford residents died with coronavirus in the last week.

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All hands on deck on vaccine rollout in Stamford - The Advocate