The state’s botched rollout of Phase 2 coronavirus vaccine registrations has laid bare inequities in access to the shots, according to lawmakers and advocates who fear the most vulnerable are being cut off from the crucial resource.
The state’s botched rollout of Phase 2 coronavirus vaccine registrations has laid bare inequities in access to the shots, according to lawmakers and advocates who fear the most vulnerable are being cut off from the crucial resource. “In vaccine access, those with access and privilege continue to get relatively quality care, and those without are not getting those outcomes,” state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, told reporters. Furor over glitchy third-party websites and fully booked calendars when the state opened vaccine registration for residents ages 75 and older on Wednesday soon gave way to pleas for more equity in the distribution process, from signups to shots-in-arms. Thousands of new appointments will be added at the state’s four mass vaccination sites each Thursday. But lawmakers and public health officials said that doesn’t help seniors who lack the internet access or computer savvy to register through online portals. And the sites in Boston, Foxboro, Danvers and Springfield can be inaccessible to those without cars. “The large vaccine sites, if you look at them from an equity lens, clearly do not support folks who cannot get there, whether they be aged or whether they lack transportation,” Patricia Nadle of Outer Cape Health Services said.
