By Bill Walczak, Reporter Columnist
February 3, 2021
Bill Walczak
Covid, the No. 1 killer in the country, is preventable with a vaccine. Massachusetts is one of the world’s great centers of medicine and research, home to four outstanding medical schools and several of the world’s greatest teaching hospitals, along with hundreds of organizations that practice health care. Some 18 percent of the jobs in metropolitan Boston are in health care.
Yet, as of Feb. 1, Massachusetts was ranked 41st of the 50 states in percentage of distributed vaccines that have been administered. The Centers for Disease Control reported that the state had received 1,060,900 vaccine doses as of Jan. 31, but had used only 57 percent of that allocation in putting 608,947 doses in people’s arms. Our vaccination rate is lower than 40 other states. Records show that 6.7 percent of Massachusetts residents have had one dose; 1.7 percent have completed both, and 451,953 doses were yet to be used.
The Center for Public Representation issued the following news:
The Center, together with a broad cross section of the disability, aging, and civil rights organizations, urged the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts to take specific steps to ensure individuals at high risk of complications from COVID-19 have equitable access to the vaccines.
These recommendation include: (1) the development and distribution of accessible, plain language resources in multiple formats; (2) broadening the list of qualifying co-morbid conditions, and creating pathways to vaccination for other individuals at higher risk of severe illness and death; (3) targeting outreach and vaccination resources to communities hard hit by the virus; and (4) ensuring accessible vaccination sites and procedures for securing vaccine appointments.
Coalition led by Holyoke officials press Baker to vaccinate educators earlier
Holyoke School Committee member Devin Sheehan is leading a coalition of school committee members statewide to encourage Gov. Charlie Baker to vaccinate teachers and other school personnel earlier. SUBMITTED PHOTO
Holyoke High School GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Published: 1/19/2021 6:57:59 PM
HOLYOKE As students and teachers in Holyoke prepare to soon head back to school under a hybrid learning model, a coalition of school committee members from across the state is calling on Gov. Charlie Baker to prioritize vaccination for educators in urban and low-income school districts, like those in the Paper City and Springfield.
Jerry Halberstadt outside his low-income senior housing building in Peabody. He was masked except for this photo taken at a distance. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
Jerry Halberstadt, a tenants rights advocate who has fought bullying in low-income housing, is focused on a different concern these days. I’m 84, and unlikely to survive COVID if I get it, so I need to keep myself safe, he said. I’m concerned about the same danger facing 92,000 tenants in public and subsidized housing all over the state.
He worries when neighbors in the building for senior and disabled residents where he lives, in central Peabody on the North Shore, don’t follow rules about wearing masks or maintaining distance in the small elevator or tight hallways. And in the current surge, the risk has grown.
Baker restricts business foot traffic in state starting Saturday
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker speaks to the media on Tuesday about the COVID-19 situation in the state. Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald
Published: 12/23/2020 11:32:18 AM
BOSTON Fearing that the holiday season could fuel an explosion of COVID-19 cases that the state’s health care system would not be able to handle, Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday announced new restrictions that seek to limit the number of people in most businesses, public spaces, and private homes for at least two weeks after Christmas.
Starting Saturday and running until at least noon on Jan. 10, restaurants, movie theaters, performance venues, casinos, offices, places of worship, retail businesses, fitness centers, health clubs, libraries, golf facilities, driving and flight schools, arcades, museums, and “sectors not otherwise addressed” must limit their customer capacity to a maximum of 25 percent.