BOSTON (CBS) – If COVID vaccines were gold, then many towns in Massachusetts declared bankruptcy this week, after the Baker administration shifted vaccine focus away from local boards of health, and put the emphasis on mass-vaccination sites like Gillette Stadium.
Now, the administration may be pivoting again, slightly. On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said they would be leaning on local towns again, and asking them to “regionalize.”
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“We’re encouraging, rather than stand-alone individual municipal clinics, of clinics coming together, locals coming together to form regional collaboratives,” Sudders said.
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In the Nashoba Valley, 16 towns grouped their boards of health together a long time ago. Littleton Town Manager Anthony Ansaldi said because of their regional approach, the infrastructure is already in place to vaccinate their residents.
“Local government has been resilient and really stood up to the task, so when the governor asks us to pivot and if he asks us to pivot and be ready to administer vaccines on a local level, I’m sure that we will all stand up and meet that call,” Ansaldi said.
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Visit Mass.Gov/CovidVaccine to find out when you’re eligible and to book an appointment.
