Distribution of second COVID-19 booster shots is ‘picking up’ in Connecticut. Here’s what the demand looks like.

 Originally posted at Hartford Courant

In a small gray trailer plopped in a parking lot alongside I-91 in Hartford, Samuel Wright and Bonnie Allen waited for COVID-19 vaccine-seekers to arrive.

It was late Tuesday afternoon, not long before the Hartford HealthCare vaccine clinic Wright and Allen run was set to close, and the site had seen about 30 patients — an increase from previous days but nothing like the crush of patients vaccinators grew used to in earlier stages of the pandemic.

“People are coming in,” said Allen, a registered nurse. “Not like that first booster, of course, when we had huge amounts of people, but they are starting to pick up in numbers.”

Soon, a car rolled up and 56-year-old Hartford resident Randy Madore stepped out. Madore, like millions of other Americans, recently became eligible for a second booster shot, and he was anxious to receive it.

“I’m starting to do more things socially, so I felt I wanted to be better protected,” Madore said, citing the new BA.2 subvariant.

Then Madore’s car rolled away, and the site was empty again.

Since federal regulators approved second booster doses for all Americans 50 and older in late March, as well as those who are immunocompromised, Connecticut providers have seen only a trickle of vaccine seekers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not list second booster shot data on its website, and a spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Public Health said the state doesn’t have that data either. But what’s clear is that of nearly 900,000 Connecticut residents 50 and older who have already had one booster, only a small fraction have sought another shot.

“People don’t have that sense of urgency they had last year,” said Eric Arlia, Hartford HealthCare’s director of pharmacy. “That fear that I’ve got to be first in line, I think that’s gone, which is probably a good thing for all of us.”

Arlia said Hartford HealthCare has delivered about 3,000 booster doses since March 29, the vast majority of which have been second boosters. About 75% of appointment slots have been filled, Arlia said.

This, of course, stands in contrast to the initial vaccine rollout last year, when hundreds of thousands of residents flocked simultaneously to get their shots, leaving lines long and appointments scarce. This time around, Arlia said, he anticipates a more “orderly” booster shot process.

Rashad Collins, chief operating officer of Charter Oak Health Center, said demand remained relatively modest. A good day for Charter Oak, where vaccine clinics are open seven days a week, might mean 30 or 40 patients.

“It hasn’t been too big of a bump so far,” Collins said. “People are still getting more educated on the eligibility side of it.”

Leslie Gianelli, a spokesperson for Community Health Center, Inc., said CHC has seen “steady levels of interest among patients” and was taking proactive steps to encourage booster shots, such as asking patients at unrelated appointments if they’d like a booster dose.

A spokesperson for CVS said she could not share how many second booster doses the pharmacy chain had administered so far, but as of Tuesday, numerous vaccine appointments in the Hartford area were available through the store’s website.

Connecticut ranks as one of America’s most vaccinated states, both in terms of initial vaccinations as well as first booster doses. As of Tuesday, 51.3% of fully vaccinated state residents had received a booster.

Experts say the second booster is particularly important for elderly people and those with serious underlying conditions but that everyone 50 and older can benefit from another shot.

“It’s an additional thing you can do to protect yourself and have an extra layer of comfort that you are as protected as you can be from adverse affects of COVID-19,” Dr. Manisha Juthani, the state’s public health commissioner, said recently.

Arlia, who is 51, said he got his second booster dose last week.

“I just don’t see a downside, honestly,” Arlia said, “and I want to be a role model.”