Plan Details Local Vaccine Priorities

Sixty shots per hour.

That’s how quickly the city anticipates it will be able to administer Covid-19 vaccines as the immunization rollout pushes ahead, according to the New Haven Health Department’s (NHHD) newly released Covid-19 mass vaccination plan.

That anticipated vaccine administration capacity is listed amid 50 pages worth of details included in the official document.

The local plan was drafted by the city health department on Nov. 23, submitted to the state Department of Public Health on Dec. 3, and released to the Independent on Tuesday in response to a Connecticut Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The plan — still technically in draft form — provides the most detailed look to date at how the city intends to get Covid-19 vaccines into the arms of New Haveners in the weeks and months ahead. It builds off press conference presentations given by city Health Director Maritza Bond over the past month and a half.

“The COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Plan describes and documents the expected response by the NHHD to safely prepare for, activate, and implement an effective city-wide COVID-19 mass vaccination initiative to reduce COVID-19 related illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths in New Haven,” the opening page of the plan reads. 

Given the quickly evolving nature of the pandemic and availability of vaccine doses, ​“This Plan will be modified and updated as more information about the COVID-19 vaccine, mass vaccination strategies, and additional guidance become available.” 

Click here to download a copy of the full plan.

The 50-page plan covers topics from key community partners to a phased vaccination approach, from protocols for ordering and storing and administering the vaccine to considerations for mitigating the effects of heavy traffic and bad weather at community vaccination sites.

It identifies a handful of local sites under serious consideration to be used as public vaccination venues. Those include James Hillhouse High School’s Floyd Little field house and Bowen Field. (See more below.) No decisions have been made yet about venues.

Some of the local contributors to the city plan include Health Director Bond, Director of Public Health Nursing Jennifer Vazquez, Fire Chief John Alston, Senior Sanitarian Glenda Buenaventura, Assistant Police Chief Renee Dominguez, former Director of Disability Services (and current Assistant Corporation Counsel) Michelle Duprey, Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana, and Health Programs Director Brooke Logan.

The city health department has administered 2,190 doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to eligible healthcare workers and emergency providers out of its 54 Meadow St. clinic since Dec. 28.

The state remains in Phase 1A of the governor’s vaccine rollout plan. State officials expect to transition to a new phase of the rollout next week. That means that vaccines statewide should be opened up to not just healthcare workers, emergency responders, and nursing home residents and staff, but also to people over the age of 75 who don’t live in nursing homes. (On Tuesday, a state panel recommended that Phase 1B open up to an even broader group, including people over the age of 65 and those with certain federally defined medical conditions.)

The state has also announced plans to open Rentschler Field in East Hartford as Connecticut’s first mass vaccination site.

The city’s mass vaccination plan includes no specific dates as to when New Haven city government plans to open up vaccines to a broader swath of the public. It instead points to monitoring changing guidance at the state and federal levels to help dictate the local response.

Healthcare Workers, Medical First Responders Up First

Section III of the local document describes a phased approach to Covid-19 vaccination the rollout at the state level.

“Due to changing vaccine supply levels at various points during the COVID-19 Vaccination Program, planning needs to be flexible but as specific as possible to accommodate a variety of scenarios,” the plan reads.

“A key point to consider is that vaccine supply will be limited at the beginning of the program, so the allocation of doses must focus on vaccination providers and settings for vaccination of limited critical populations as well as outreach to these populations. The vaccine supply is projected to increase quickly over the proceeding months, allowing vaccination efforts to be expanded to additional critical populations and the general public.”

The plan identifies healthcare workers and medical first responders as part of Phase 1a, and essential front line workers, individuals and staff in congregate settings (including in group homes and prisons), and individuals 75 years of age or older as part of Phase 1b in the city’s tiered priority list for vaccine rollout.

“Focused public health efforts will shift to include other high priority groups (elderly, minority populations, persons with underlying conditions) as uptake among critical workforce members diminishes” during Phase 1b and in subsequent phases that include the general population, the report reads.

“Mass clinics would continue to be held to reach those less likely to be reached by clinic providers and pharmacies (e.g., younger populations), but local outreach is likely to be emphasized as much or more than mass clinics (e.g., direct outreach to schools, colleges and workplaces in addition to homebound and ​“hard to reach” populations). In addition, it is likely that a substantial number of people will need to receive their second dose of the vaccine. Second dose reminders will be sent to all individuals via VAMS. Additionally, the NHHD will utilize the Everbridge system in to push out mass messaging to members of the community, as well as personalized letters, texts, phone calls, and mass communication. Nursing staff will conduct outreach to private vaccine providers encourage them to contact their patients to complete their vaccination series.”

That same section of the plan identifies nearly a dozen community partners that the health department plans to work with as the vaccine rollout moves ahead.

Those partners include Yale New Haven Hospital, Yale University, Southern Connecticut State University, Gateway Community College, Quinnipiac University, Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), Columbus House, Bella Vista, and The Towers.

Potential Vaccination Sites: Floyd Little Fieldhouse, Bowen Field

The mass vaccination plan also identifies a handful of local sites that could host Point of Vaccination (POV) clinics, including walk-through clinics, drive-through clinics, and other spaces where eligible members of the public can go to vaccinated.

In Appendix E of the plan, the authors list sites that have already been approved by local, state, and federal emergency management agencies as meeting the requirements for such a use.

Those include:

• Hillhouse High School’s Floyd Little Fieldhouse at 480 Sherman Pkwy., which would be open as a walk-up clinic available to the general public in Phases 2 and 3;

• Hillhouse High School’s Bowen Field at 480 Sherman Pkwy., which would be open as a drive-up clinic available to the general public in Phases 2 and 3;

• Columbus House at 586 Ella T. Grasso Blvd., which would be open as a walk-up clinic available to the homeless in Phase 2;

• Fire Training Academy at 230 Ella T. Grasso Blvd., which would be open as a walk-up and drive-up clinic to first responders in Phases 1B, 2, and 3;

• New Haven Health Department at 54 Meadow St., which would be open as a walk-up clinic available to first responders and the general public in Phases 1B, 2, and 3.

The plan states that POV sites should be conducive to vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic, and should be able to accommodate buses or be located near bus routes for those arriving by public transportation. They should also provide sufficient queueing areas for vehicles that will not significantly impede normal traffic patterns and separate vehicles from pedestrians.

“Use of publicly owned areas meeting the practical requirements above are the best option, as they are immediately accessible and fall under existing municipal control and/or mutual aid agreements,” the plan reads.

“Weather forecasts should be considered when planning vaccination clinics as certain weather events may hinder vaccination efforts and create safety threats.”

The plan also describes in detail the layout of each POV station, which should include a client check-in station (where people fill out vaccine screening forms and are assessed for vaccination eligibility and type), a vaccination station (where the vaccine itself would be administered), an exit, a supply storage (to house, out of public view, medications and other medical and non-medical supplies like portable ice coolers), and a staff registration and break area.

In Section V of the plan, the authors state that the health department anticipates that it will be able to vaccinate up to 60 individuals per hour, based on the assumption that each nurse can vaccinate one individual every 10 minutes for a total of six individuals per hour. ​“If 10 nurses work at once, 60 individuals can be vaccinated hourly.”

Communication Plans: Dual Language, Everbridge, Hotline

Section XI of the plan details the health department’s communication program for the local vaccine rollout.

It states that all communications and educational materials will be made available by the city in both English and Spanish, with further efforts to include information in Arabic and Mandarin.

In Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout, the city’s outreach efforts will focus on the use of direct emails to critical employees eligible for vaccination. ​“Information will also be shared with the critical workforce via educational webinars, roll calls, shift change meeting, and employee newsletters.”

In Phases 2 and 3, ​“Vaccine hesitancy is expected to be high, especially among historically marginalized people who are highly represented in prioritized populations, so public communication efforts will focus on building a foundation of trust.”

The plan identifies the communication goals for these phases as increasing knowledge of the vaccine and its development, setting expectations for limited vaccine availability in the early stages of rollout, and raising ​“awareness and recognition of historical injustices to mitigate vaccine hesitancy.”

The city plans to continue to use its current Covid-specific health department hotline at 203 – 946-4949 to answer questions about not just the virus, but also the vaccine. The hotline is staffed Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., according to the plan. Questions received on the hotline are then tracked on the city’s VEOCI platform, and will be used to inform public messaging.

“Additionally, both the NHHD webpage and the City’s COVID-19 webpage will be updated with information on the COVID-19 vaccine and social media platforms (i.e., Twitter and Facebook) will be used to share information,” the plan reads.

“Everbridge, the City’s reverse 911 phone, e‑mail, and text massing system will also be utilized to provide residents with important information about the vaccine. Lastly, the NHHD will engage local television media to reach individuals with limited phone and internet access.”