Many reasons vaccine rollout is bumpy â decentralization isnât one of them
Updated February 5, 2021, 2:30 a.m.
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A Moderna Covid-19 vaccine is prepared for a patient at the mass vaccination site at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Feb. 1.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Although Robert Weisman reports that problems with COVID-19 vaccination are due to âdecentralization, lack of coordination, and consumer confusion,â I do not see evidence for decentralization as a cause of problems (âFragmented health care slows push to inoculate,â Page A1, Feb. 3). Rather, I point to poor decision-making by government leaders and unwillingness to use the preexisting vaccine infrastructure.
« The reason we’re seeing lines outside certain businesses is probably only that these establishments are operating under the state’s 25 percent capacity rules. »
Mass. takes heat for its vaccine rollout
Updated January 27, 2021, 2:30 a.m.
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Many lack digital tools, skills to sign up for vaccination
Massachusetts is finally taking critical steps to hasten the pace of our COVID-19 vaccine rollout (âGovernor quickens vaccine rollout, adds sites,â Page A1, Jan. 26). But if wide-scale vaccination is primarily dependent on thousands of people signing up for appointments through a complex online portal, we will leave behind our most vulnerable residents, many of whom donât have access to the digital tools or skills necessary to sign up.
Nationally, 18 percent of all households donât have Internet access and 23 percent donât have a home computer, and 41 percent of people covered by Medicare donât have access to the Internet from home. These major gaps in digital access and knowledge create significant barriers for millions of Americans, and thousands of people in Massachusetts, who are unable to reac