A backlash is growing in Connecticut and Maine following the adoption of age-based eligibility rules for Covid-19 vaccinations that will force some people with serious medical conditions and essential workers to wait longer for their turn.
The two states are the only ones in the country to base eligibility for the Covid-19 vaccine mostly on age. In recent weeks, both abandoned previous plans to also give priority to people with certain underlying medical conditions and people working in some occupations. In Connecticut, people 55 years and older are currently permitted to get the vaccine, and in Maine people 60 and older can get it.
Younger people will become eligible in phases. Both states have carved out an exception for people who work in education.
David Margolis, who lives in Stamford, Conn., said he had expected his 21-year-old son, who has a rare genetic disorder that makes him more susceptible to a severe case of Covid-19, to be included in the next group of people eligible for the vaccine. Instead, he will have to wait until at least May, when Connecticut opens up vaccinations to its last group, 16- to 34-year-olds.
“We were flabbergasted. We were brokenhearted,” said Mr. Margolis, 63. “How you take this population of people that have these underlying conditions and just sort of throw them to the wayside is just beyond me.”