US Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) met with Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal leaders on Tuesday, April 6, and toured the tribeâs government center and health clinic after passage of the American Rescue Plan, which he said invests $31.2 billion in resources for Native American communities.
Working in close coordination with the tribe, the Indian Health Service, a division within the US Department of Health and Human Services, has rolled out a program that has vaccinated tribal members, their immediate families and Mashpee public school teachers.
âWe have seen how indigenous communities across the country have surpassed states in vaccination in many places,â Sen. Markey said, praising the tribe for vaccinating many of its own members and staff in the Mashpee public school system. âWe congratulate you on that and the leadership that you are showing.â
CAI
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Member Brian Weeden shows U.S. Sen. Ed Markey the seal on the floor of the rotunda at the tribe s government and community center in Mashpee on Tuesday.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe says its COVID-19 vaccination program is going well, and the tribe has offered vaccines to teachers in three neighboring communities.
Nelson Andrews Jr., emergency management director for the Mashpee Wampanoag, said any tribal member age 16 and up, their immediate families, and teachers in Mashpee, Barnstable, and Falmouth can receive the vaccine.
“We were able to meet this criteria first and foremost before even the county,” he said.