UPDATE: This report was updated at 2 pm on December 14 to report the delivery and first inoculations of the COVID vaccine in Connecticut.

* * * * *

HARTFORD — Ahead of Monday's highly anticipated delivery of Connecticut's first shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine, Governor Ned Lamont announced that the Connecticut COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group’s Science Subcommittee is recommending to him that the state’s distribution plan activate at the earliest opportunity.

As expected, The Hartford Courant reported Hartford Hospital received 1,950 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine around 9 am Monday, December 14, and began administering them to healthcare workers less than two hours later. Dr Ajay Kumar, Hartford HealthCare’s chief clinical officer, was the first in the state to receive the vaccine at around 10:45.

The governor's Science Subcommittee recommendation was issued after members reviewed all available scientific and trial data from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, clinical trial information provided by Pfizer and BioNTech, and peer-reviewed scientific publications about the vaccine and its clinical testing. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also voted to recommend the vaccine for individuals over 16.

Lamont accepted the subcommittee’s recommendations and is ordering the Connecticut Department of Public Health make all necessary preparations in order for the vaccine to be received as early as Monday, distributed, and allocated shortly thereafter to healthcare institutions and long-term care facilities all over the state.

This is a significant moment for our state and our country,” Governor Lamont said. “Here in Connecticut, we are incredibly proud to be able to say that the Pfizer team in Groton helped to develop this first vaccine to fight the coronavirus which we know will help to get our communities back to normal. The EUA, combined with this recommendation from our Science Subcommittee, with some of the best scientific and analytical minds in our state, will provide light at the end of the tunnel for our state to emerge from the pandemic. I take these recommendations seriously, and I thank everyone involved with our advisory group for their hard work and dedication to this important cause.”

“We found that the process of developing, reviewing, and authorizing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was rigorous, transparent, and scientifically sound,” the co-chairs of the Science Subcommittee – Jason Schwartz PhD from Yale and David Banach, MD, MPH from UConn – wrote in their recommendations to the governor. “The subcommittee has full confidence in the integrity of the FDA review and authorization process for this vaccine and the quality of the work performed by FDA scientists, reviewers, and advisory committee members.”

The co-chairs of the Connecticut COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group – Public Health Acting Commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford and Trinity Health President Dr. Reginald Eadie – said of the recommendation, “During a trying year for our state, this recommendation is an important step toward our community having the ability to fight COVID-19 and return our society and institutions to normal.

This was a rigorous, time-intensive process meant to understand the science behind the development of the vaccine, and provide confidence to Connecticut residents that our entire advisory group was working to make the best recommendations in the interests of public health.”

Connecticut placed its first order for 31,200 vaccines on Friday, December 4, and Lamont was poised to welcome the first delivery to the state on Monday, December 14. Long-term care facilities across Connecticut have agreements with either Walgreens or CVS for vaccine administration, and distribution is expected to begin Monday, December 21.