Select boards push for increased focus on local COVID-19 vaccination sites – GazetteNET

Published: 2/27/2021 6:30:33 PM

Deerfield, Whately and Sunderland have all signed a letter to Gov. Charlie Baker opposing the prioritization of mass COVID-19 vaccination sites over local vaccination sites.

We just have to try to get more vaccines more vaccines to come into Franklin County, said Deerfield Board of Health Chairwoman Carolyn Shores Ness at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) vaccine clinic at Tree House Brewing on Thursday, where 500 doses were scheduled to be administered over two days. We certainly have the capacity to do much more, and were hoping the governor will see this.

All three select boards discussed and signed the letter this week, which argued that local governments are intimately familiar with their communities.

We know who our most vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations are and have plans in place to work with them, the letter states. The mass vaccination sites fail to account for those high-risk individuals in need, especially in rural communities that lack adequate public transportation options.

At a Sunderland Select Board meeting earlier this week, board member Tom Fydenkevez said Baker fails to understand the importance of individual communities.

We dont really have any mass transit; we cant get from Point A to Point B easily, he said. Having mass vaccination sites in Springfield and Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park they may be able to push numbers, but youre not going to actually gain inroads into our population that needs the service.

Whately Select Board member Jonathan Edwards said at a board meeting Wednesday night that while there are many people who believe mass vaccination sites are more effective, they present barriers to a large segment of the population.

The challenge of mass sites is they are a huge barrier to people without online capabilities for signing up, Edwards said. It means theyre in large places that potentially are not convenient to more rural places.

We really do know what were doing, he said.

Whately Town Administrator Brian Domina said the states emphasis on mass vaccination sites means more vaccines are sent to larger, more urban communities in western Massachusetts, as opposed to locally run clinics, such as the one held at Tree House Brewing.

What the state is saying is Were going to give 500 (vaccines) to Eastfield Mall in Springfield, because its a regional site, because its western Mass., so everybody can get to Springfield, he said. Thats the stance the state is taking.

The distance to a vaccine site is enough to deter people from getting the vaccine, Domina added.

Convenience (of getting a) vaccine is one reason to get the vaccine, Edwards said. We dont want to put up obstacles to get the vaccine, we want to remove obstacles to get the vaccine.

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Select boards push for increased focus on local COVID-19 vaccination sites - GazetteNET