By Daniel Sheehan, Reporter Staff
January 7, 2021
Daniel Sheehan, Reporter Staff
The late Dr. Jack Geiger and Sandra Cotterell, CEO of the Codman Square Health Center. 2015 Bill Walczak photo
When the trailblazing physician Dr. Jack Geiger died at his Brooklyn home last Monday at the age of 95, his passing prompted strong reactions in the Boston medical community, where he helped pioneer the neighborhood health center movement decades ago.
Together with Dr. Count Gibson, Dr. Geiger founded the first health center in the nation on Columbia Point in 1965, establishing what is today the Geiger-Gibson Health Center. That, in turn, inspired the founding of medical treatment facilities in neighborhoods across the city.
In a week when the first COVID-19 vaccinations were administered in Massachusetts to front-line health care workers, there are questions over how the state plans to distribute extra doses of the vaccine to communities of color that have been battered by the pandemic.
Framingham and Milford are among those communities, as each has a sizable minority population that is experiencing skyrocketing COVID-19 infection rates.
Last week, Gov. Charlie Baker’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group announced plans for vaccine distribution, including an extra 20% supply to communities that suffered a disproportionate impact during the pandemic.
But there are questions about that extra supply, including how will it be calculated and who will get it.