LISTEN: Connecticut's Health Commissioner On Why Masks Are Still Needed

For the last 14 months, Dr. Deidre Gifford has been serving dual roles within Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration. Besides her work as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Social Services, Gifford has also been serving as acting commissioner of the Department of Public Health. She will step aside from that post in September in favor of Yale epidemiologist Dr. Manisha Juthani. Gifford joined All Things Considered to talk about the state’s efforts to ramp up vaccinations in the face of the rising threat of the delta variant. She also looked back on her time leading the DPH during a historic pandemic.