Legal Aid lawyers have filed a civil rights complaint against Gov. Ned Lamont and the state of Connecticut, claiming that the governor’s new age-based rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines is discriminatory against the state’s nonwhite residents.
The complaint by three Legal Aid associations argues that Connecticut’s residents of color are disproportionately represented in the categories of frontline essential workers and people with underlying health conditions. Both of those groups were originally slated to be prioritized for vaccination, until Lamont switched to an age-based rollout.
“All of these factors contribute to Black and brown Connecticut residents contracting COVID-19 at higher rates, and dying of it at higher rates,” said Kristen Noelle Miller Hatcher, an attorney with Connecticut Legal Services, in a release.