Vermont has registered more than 29,000 people age 75 or older in its coronavirus vaccination efforts this week, officials said at a press conference Wednesday.
The state opened its second phase of vaccine registration on Monday, and clinics began administering the vaccine on Wednesday. Registration is open at the Vermont Department of Health’s website here, the preferred method, or over the phone.
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Officials said the number of people who registered was a sign of success. Still, they acknowledged some people faced difficulty with registering, including issues such as incorrect emails or confirmations going to their spam folder. The phone line also faced an initial overwhelming influx of calls.
Secretary of the Agency of Human Services Mike Smith said for a few hours the wrong phone number for vaccine appointments was posted on the health department website. (The problem was corrected quickly.) In some cases, people who tried to register entered email addresses incorrectly and verification letters could not be sent. And in other instances, he said call takers may have made appointments for a COVID test, rather than a vaccine. The department reached out to those people to schedule vaccine appointments, he said.
“Even though the registration went smoothly for most, we also know there were glitches and areas where we can improve,” said Gov. Phil Scott.
The state expects vaccination of people 75 and older to take about five weeks, after which registration will open up to people 70 and older, then 65 and older, then younger people with health conditions, said Michael Smith, secretary of the Agency of Human Services.
Twenty-five vaccine clinics began administering Phase 2 vaccines Wednesday, Smith said, with 54 sites planned in total. The state is still working on the logistics of delivering the vaccine to homebound Vermonters.
Scott said Vermont has avoided the “confusion, shortages, and first-come, first-serve” problems of other states. Vermont has a slightly different vaccine strategy from most other states, including its decision not to have early vaccinations for teachers and other essential workers.
“Instead of over-promising and under-delivering, we’re being honest with you,” Scott said. “(We’re) setting realistic expectations based on the supply we actually have in targeting vaccines, those we know are most likely to die if they get sick.”
About 33,600 people have received just the first dose of the vaccine, and 12,500 people have received two doses, according to Department of Health data. Scott said Vermont was the first state to fully vaccinate more people than it had Covid cases.
Scott said he met recently with other governors, and they had come to a consensus: They would like more transparency and earlier notification on vaccine distribution from the federal government. Scott has said previously that the state found out about its allocation only a week in advance, making planning more difficult.
“If we had an idea how much we’re going to get a month from now and beyond, that gives us the opportunity to gauge the size of the vaccination plan according to the supply we know is coming in so that we don’t overpromise, but we don’t under-commit either,” he said.
The Biden administration recently announced plans to speed the flow of vaccines to the states as early as next week. The administration is also working on a deal to deliver 300 million vaccine doses to Americans by the end of the summer.
Declining cases continue
Data on national, regional and state cases show positive signs, said Michael S. Pieciak, commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation.
The seven-day case average at a national level has been declining for 15 straight days, he said, a 33% decline from the peak in mid-January. Regional cases are down 24% from their peak, and Vermont cases are down 26%.
The state reported 942 cases in the past week, compared to 1,137 cases the week before and 1,170 at its peak two weeks ago. This week’s cases include 133 Vermonters 65 and older, the most high-risk population.
Long-term care cases and deaths declined significantly from December to January. Long-term care had 245 cases and 59 deaths in December, and only 59 cases and 18 deaths so far in January.
Pieciak said it’s too soon to attribute the decline to long-term care vaccinations, but “this is the type of impact that we expect to see as we continue to vaccinate our most vulnerable population in the weeks and months ahead.”
Two dark spots remain in Vermont’s response to the virus this week. The first is the high rate of cases in Bennington County, the highest in any county since the start of the pandemic, Pieciak said. He said New York residents have been coming to Bennington for Covid tests and account for 21% of the positive tests there since Nov. 1.
Bennington County has had 306 cases in the past two weeks, including 23 today, according to Department of Health data. The county had 300 cases through the entire month of December. State data shows that cases around Manchester and Dover were particularly high in the past two weeks.
The state also reported 118 cases among college students for the first week of the spring semester, compared to only a handful in the first few weeks of fall 2020. Pieciak said the high number of cases could be related to the overall higher number of cases in the communities the students are coming from.
To register for a vaccine appointment or get information on walk-in clinics, visit healthvermont.gov/MyVaccine or call 855-722-7878.Â
You will be asked to provide your name, date of birth, address, email (if available), phone number, and health insurance information (if available, but not required).