MassLive has learned that Massachusetts health officials will stop shipping some COVID-19 vaccines to several hospitals in Western Massachusetts.
Lawmakers told MassLive that Baystate Health, Cooley Dickinson Health Care and Mercy Medical Center had not received the first dose for a period of two weeks. They were notified of the plan during a conversation with hospital managers.
According to legislators, there is no impact on patients who get appointments to get their second dose.
“I think it’s worrying that we’re putting our trust in most vaccinations in a private business, not in Massachusetts, instead of our local community hospitals, our departments and health councils trusting people,” said Jake Oliveira, a Ludlow, said. Democrat, who was at the call.
Rep. Mindy Domb, an Amherst Democrat, said the move threatens to make the COVID-19 vaccine less accessible to people aged 75 and older.
‘We want to make sure that people come to get the vaccine, that they are comfortable getting it. We have to decentralize the process and not center it, ”said Domb. “We have these mass places where we see the photos of the 75-year-olds waiting outside in the cold.”
Hundreds of Massachusetts residents waited outside the Eastfield Mall in Springfield in cold temperatures and snow to receive their dose of Pfizer vaccine, MassLive reported Monday. A series of changes have since been implemented on the site.
Asked about the move, Baystate Health officials said they had not received any official notice from the state.
But Baystate Health President and CEO Mark Keroack said in a statement: “We are hopeful that the Department of Public Health will provide adequate vaccine allocations to enable us to reach the community members’ appointments for the scheduled for the next two weeks. “
Officials from the COVID-19 Command Center and Government Secretary Charlie Baker did not respond to inquiries from MassLive.
Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa first heard that Cooley Dickinson would possibly lose his first doses from a voter who called her office on Thursday. She then jumped up with a hospital manager.
“We are very upset,” the Northampton Democrat said.
Not Hampshire County, where Cooley Dickinson is based, nor does Franklin County have a superintendent site. The nearest site is at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield, which came under scrutiny this week after hundreds of people waited in the cold for a vaccine.
Representatives from Curative, the provider on the website, told MassLive that people should wait in their cars to avoid pressure and long queues. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Marylou Sudders and Baker, made similar suggestions when asked about the long wait for people aged 75 and older.
Massachusetts also has super-vaccination sites at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough and Fenway Park in Boston. The state plans to launch two new sites at the Natick Mall and at the Circuit City site in Dartmouth.
State Senator Jo Comerford, who along with Domb called for a vaccine bill, called the break in vaccine distribution to Western Massachusetts hospitals a “slap in the face” to residents of Hampshire and Franklin counties.
“It is outrageous that in the midst of a pandemic, hospitals, which train medical professionals we trust, are banned from distributing the vaccine, especially in areas such as Hampshire and Franklin,” the Northampton Democrat said. .
Rep. Paul Mark, a Democrat in Peru, said he was surprised to hear about the interruption in the distribution of vaccines to Western Massachusetts hospitals.
“Our local hospitals in Franklin and Hampshire County have invested time and resources in setting up vaccination sites locally, while the region has been ignored by the government,” he said in a message. “This new policy is not helping our region to move forward at all, and it actually looks detrimental to the progress that has been made.”