Emergency Preparedness Spotlight:

Get Ready for Spring Weather

As Spring approaches, snow starts melting and spring showers develop; flooding can occur. Flooding can develop either slowly or quickly and is the most common type of natural disaster in the United States. Stay safe and know your risks, go to Ready.gov and learn how to prepare for a flood and what to do in case you experience a flood warning.

Environmental Health Spotlight:

Pfizer to Seek FDA Approval for Lyme Disease Vaccine

CT Post Article by Liese Klein

With ticks carrying Lyme disease more abundant than ever in Connecticut, a major drug company is moving forward with a vaccine for the ailment despite some mixed results in a new clinical trial.

Pfizer announced Monday that it would seek Food and Drug Administration approval for its Lyme vaccine after testing it in areas with high rates of Lyme disease across the U.S. — including Connecticut — Canada and Europe.

“I’m very optimistic that this will be a good vaccine, and they should go ahead and do all of the regulatory approvals that they need to do,” said Dr. Michael Parry, chair of infectious diseases at Stamford Health and one of the experts helping Pfizer conduct the clinical trials. If the FDA approves the vaccine, it could be available in as soon as a year or two, he said.

Pfizer’s vaccine candidate, named VALOR, or “Vaccine Against Lyme for Outdoor Recreationists,” demonstrated higher than 70% efficacy in preventing Lyme disease in Phase 3 clinical trials in 9,000 people, the company said.

“Pfizer is confident in the vaccine’s potential and is planning submissions to regulatory authorities,” the company said in a statement.

Pfizer, which has major operations in New London, developed the disease in its facilities in Pearl River, N.Y., a company spokesperson said.

Patients testing the injection reported few side effects other than sore arms, and the Lyme vaccine proved more effective in preventing disease than current flu and COVID-19 vaccines, Parry said. The trial fell short of some clinical milestones because relatively few Lyme cases were reported in the patients who volunteered to test the vaccine.

“We recruited a group of people who are worried about Lyme disease, and these people know how to protect themselves from Lyme disease,” Parry said. Measures like routine “tick checks,” protective clothing and use of insecticides in yards have been proven to cut Lyme risk, he said.

Parry said even with the mixed results, he was confident the FDA would approve the Lyme vaccine due to its efficacy and broad scope, effective against the six variants of Lyme endemic across the world.

“It’s a good vaccine. I think the data will show it’s well tolerated,” Parry said. “If you can reduce the number of Lyme disease cases by 75%, that’s a win-win.”

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged in December to focus new efforts on diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, with the help of Stamford’s Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation. Kennedy cited his infection and those of family members in the Northeast as part of his motivation to shift resources toward the disease.

New state report shows Lyme tick ‘abundant’

Monday also marked the release of the annual tick report from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, which highlighted the parts of the state that have the highest percentage of infected insects.

During visits to 40 locations across the state in the spring, summer and fall of 2025, researchers collected ticks and tested them for pathogens that cause five diseases: Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, hard tick relapsing fever and Powassan encephalitis.

The 10,000 ticks collected in the 2025 survey dwarfed the 4,000-5,000 collected in prior years, said Dr. Megan Linske, a tick specialist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Although tick populations in the state have been steadily increasing, the 2025 surge likely reflects the fact that researchers happened to sample in areas with clusters of newly hatched larvae.

“The good news about that is, regardless of what species it is, larvae are the first stage. So they haven’t had an opportunity to take on a blood meal, and that’s when they take up the pathogens,” Linske said.

The species that carries Lyme, blacklegged or deer ticks, were “consistently abundant across sampling efforts,” the report stated.

New London County was reported with the highest average adult blacklegged tick density, at 81 per acre, and Litchfield County had the highest average nymphal tick density, at 28 per acre. Nymphal or adolescent ticks are the size of a poppyseed and can transmit disease to humans.

Fairfield County had the highest percentage of adult female ticks infected by the Lyme disease pathogen, at 68%, and New Haven County had the highest percentage of infected nymphs, at 32%.

Statewide, 55% of adult ticks were infected with Lyme bacteria, compared to 14% with babesiosis parasites, 9% with anaplasmosis bacteria, 2% with hard tick relapsing fever bacteria and less than 1% with Powassan virus.

Survey finds meat-allergy tick established in CT

The new tick report shows that Lone Star ticks have established populations along Connecticut’s shoreline, raising the risk of the red-meat allergy caused by alpha-gal syndrome. One of the larvae clusters found in last year’s survey was swarming with baby Lone Star ticks, Linske said.

Widespread in Martha’s Vineyard and other parts of coastal Massachusetts, alpha-gal is not yet part of state surveillance efforts, Linske said.

“A lot of states are now incorporating it into their public health reporting systems because it is becoming more pervasive,” Linske said of alpha-gal syndrome. “Connecticut’s not too terrible compared to some other states, but in our shoreline areas, it’s rising for sure.”

Scientists say warmer winters have brought new tick species into Connecticut and multiplied the number of debilitating diseases they transmit. Some patients who seek treatment are diagnosed with up to three tick-bourne diseases at the same time.

Parry of Stamford Health said that despite the cold, this winter’s ample snowfall could actually produce a bumper crop of ticks in Connecticut.

“We expect that we will see a ton of cases, particularly since there’s been a lot of snow cover, which actually helps to protect the ticks from drying out,” Parry said. “Time will tell; we’ll wait and see.”

Community Health Spotlight:

April 2026 Walking Challenge

Are you ready to get outside and make the most of the spring weather? Do you want to find new places to explore and see what your town has to offer?

Join the Housatonic Valley Health District’s Walking Challenge! During the month of April, HVHD will be hosting an at home walking challenge to encourage people to walk more. The challenge is free and doesn’t require any wearable devices; however, free pedometers are available for all our participants. This challenge is all about getting out into nature, exploring new places, and enjoying some outdoor exercise.

To join in the walking challenge, click here or register below!  

For your free pedometer please stop by our offices!

Office Location:

Southbury Office, 77 Main Street N #205, Southbury, CT 06488

New Milford Office, 10 Main Street, New Milford, CT 06776 – 2nd floor

Office hours:

Monday – Thursday, 8:30am – 4:30pm

Friday 8:30am – 2:00pm

HVHD is going digital!

HVHD is going digital! Click here to complete your forms and applications online through our new process.

National Drug Take Back Day

National Drug Take Back Day is a day that provides a safe way to dispose of unused or expired prescription drugs. During the hours of 10am – 2pm on April 25th you can safely dispose of these medications by visiting one of many statewide collection sites. A lot of us may have prescription opioids from a procedure that we no longer need, medication that has expired or medication that you are simply just no longer taking and forgot about. Take this as your opportunity to do some spring cleaning and put a stop to prescription drug misuse.

To find a collection site near you by visit: https://www.dea.gov/takebackday

How to Safely Discard Used Needles or Sharps:

• Ask your prescriber: Check with your physician, local hospital, or pharmacy to find out if they provide used sharps containers. Ask if they will accept properly packaged sharps containers.
• Create a safe container at home: Choose a hard-plastic container that cannot be punctured, such as a laundry detergent bottle or coffee can.  
• Label the container with “Sharps” or “Do Not Recycle”
• When the container is ¾ full, reinforce the cap with duct tape, and place it into the household trash.
• Do not place loose needles or any GLP-1 injectable medications in the trash:  
• Throwing used sharps in the household trash can cause harm to waste management workers or curious young children in the home.  
• Used sharp containers should not be placed in the recycling bin.

If you cannot participate in Drug Take Back Day on April 25th, there are additional ways to safely discard unused or unwanted medication any day of the year:  

1. Visit a year-round drop box: Consumers may drop off unwanted medication at a participating police department or pharmacy during business hours.  
2. Dropbox locations are secure and approved by DCP’s Drug Control Division.
3. Discard at home: Place uncrushed pills in a plastic bag with an undesirable substance such as cat litter or coffee grounds.  
4. Once the bag is sealed, put in household trash.  
5. Attend the next Drug Take Back Day: The biannual event will happen again in October, 2026.

For additional resources on Drug Take Back Day, visit: https://www.dea.gov/takebackday