About a dozen people working for The Williams School, a private school in New London, received a coronavirus vaccine that was not eligible for the state’s current distribution phase.
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, the Connecticut Department of Public Health said: “This was a notification and a user error. The school informed us about the error and was able to correct it quickly, vaccinating a small number of people early ”.
A preparatory school spokesperson for students in grades 6 through 12 said that the Vaccine Administration Management System, an online application from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used to manage the administration of vaccines, prompted the school’s coronavirus coordinator to send contact information for employees, which they did.
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Sharon Gaudreau, a spokesman for the Williams School, said that, in turn, employees received an email from VAMS saying they were eligible to make an appointment to be vaccinated.
Stephen Mansfield, health director at the Ledge Light Health District, said that although he could not comment on what happened at the school, once he was informed that it was happening, he went to the school.
Gaudreau said the school immediately sent an email to employees and all future appointments were canceled.
The school believes that about 11 people received the vaccine before being alerted to the error. Team members were not required to tell the school whether they would receive it.
“Just this morning, we are providing clarifications to all of our municipalities that, if they are making updates to the lists, so that eligible participants can make sure they are eligible under 1A,” said Mansfield.
He adds: “DPH also implemented a mechanism, yesterday morning we received a communication asking us to put a safeguard in case we raised a public clinic to ensure that people who arrive at the clinic are really eligible to get the vaccine.”
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School officials said they were told by health officials that employees who already received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be able to take the second.
Max Reiss, spokesman for Governor Ned Lamont, said this was a “small communication error in the midst of a historic and generally successful deployment”, an effort that “has never been done before in human history”
Reiss said that this launch will not be perfect and small mistakes will happen.
Although he is not sure what caused the failure, Reiss said the governor’s office continues to work with the vaccine advisory group to determine the processes and which partners are available to help publicize the distribution efforts.
NBC Connecticut contacted CDC for comment and said: “VAMS is an optional web-based application that supports the planning and execution of temporary, mobile or satellite COVID-19 vaccination clinics, as well as traditional medical practices that not having existing computer systems for managing vaccination clinics; and they sent us back to the state. “
Gaudreau said there was no malice or bad intent and they believed they were following the protocols.
She sent this statement: “During the pandemic, The Williams School continued to provide personal learning due to its success in following the protocols and guidelines of the CDC and the Ledge Light Health District. We have strong partnerships with the Department of Public Health, the Department of Education and the Connecticut Independent Schools Association to support the safety and well-being of all, and we look forward to continuing to do so. “
Williams School shared the content of the email they said they received from VAMS / CDC on December 24, 2020:
Your organization has been identified as a critical infrastructure group by your state. This means that your employees are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination. In order for your employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, you must first create an account for your organization using the link below. After creating an account and registering, you can upload your employee list to the Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) portal. Using the employee list, we will contact each employee to record and schedule their vaccination appointments.
Thanks,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention