
HARTFORD — While the results of a recent poll show only about half of adults in the U.S. plan to get the new COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday he expects confidence to grow as more and more people get the shots.
“If people have more Dr. Grants and friends who have taken the vaccine (and) see that they do it with confidence, knowing that it keeps them safe, you’ll have more people coming forward (to take the vaccine),” Gov. Ned Lamont said during a COVID-19 press briefing Monday.
Lamont’s comments came a few hours after the first vaccine shots were administered in Connecticut outside Hartford Hospital. Keith Grant, a nurse practitioner with Hartford Hospital, was among the first people to receive a shot. Click here for a story from The CT Mirror.

Grant also said people might be nervous initially, but will be more willing in the coming weeks as month — especially once they see local healthcare workers back vaccinations.
“Us, as the scientists and leaders in this group, we have an obligation to step forward. I think that is what we did today.”
Some of the skepticism against the new vaccine was evident immediately on The Valley Indy’s Facebook page Monday.
The Valley Indy published a link to a video of the first inoculation happening at Hartford Hospital. The video was taken and posted by Alex Putterman, a reporter on the COVID-19 beat for The Hartford Courant.
However, because the person in the video administering the shot was not wearing gloves, one Valley Indy Facebook reader declared the image was a ​“stock photo.” She had not clicked on the link to watch the video, nor the other videos posted by the reporter who was an eyewitness to history. Instead, the person declared the video ​“just as fake as the rest of the media’s (sic).”
Another reader vaguely questioned whether China was involved in the vaccine.
Valley officials have a chance this week to address that type of skepticism and misinformation, should they choose.
At 8 a.m. Friday (Dec. 18), The Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce will host a COVID-19 discussion featuring Dr. Fred Browne, the chief medical officer at Griffin Hospital; Jessica Kristy, the health director at the Naugatuck Valley Health District; David Morgan, the president and CEO of TEAM, Inc., and; Patrick Charmel, the president of Griffin Health in Derby.
It will be the first time such a forum has happened locally since COVID-19 reached Connecticut in March.
The forum will be held online, using Zoom. Click here to register.
Data shared at Lamont’s press conference Monday showed that Griffin Health in Derby is expecting 975 doses this week.

“We will start administering the vaccine to Griffin Health caregivers this week in accordance with the State of Connecticut’s COVID-19 Vaccination plan,” hospital spokesman Christian Meagher said in an email.
Click here for vaccination information from the CDC.
Lamont’s press conference from Monday is embedded below.