Published: 2/2/2021 10:19:46 AM
MONTAGUE — COVID-19 vaccines will not be distributed by the town of Montague for now, but instead the town will be pooling its resources with Greenfield for a vaccination clinic at the John Zon Community Center in Greenfield.
The Montague Selectboard had previously considered setting up a vaccination clinic in Montague, likely at Town Hall. But the board changed its mind this week after learning that the state government is likely to prefer large, regional distribution sites rather than several small ones.
“We’re being encouraged to work together,” Tracy Rogers, regional preparedness manager for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), said in a meeting with the Selectboard on Monday.
Montague, as one of the relatively larger towns in the area, is allocated 100 COVID-19 vaccines a week from the state, intended to serve a four-town area that also includes Gill, Erving and Wendell, as Montague Public Health Director Daniel Wasiuk has explained.
As recently as last week, the Selectboard had favored setting up a public vaccination clinic in Montague. One of the major reasons was that residents in town may have difficulty coordinating transportation to Greenfield, especially the older residents who are currently eligible for vaccines.
However, Wasiuk and Town Administrator Steve Ellis also noted that coordinating a clinic posed difficult organizational challenges, especially as guidance from the state government continues to change on a daily basis.
Greenfield’s clinic at the John Zon Community Center on Pleasant Street, which is already open and giving COVID-19 vaccines, was ultimately seen to be a better option by the Selectboard because it would enable the two towns to pool their resources.
“If it’s better from an allocation standpoint, perhaps the regional (clinic) makes more sense,” said Selectboard Chair Rich Kuklewicz. “I’ve always been all about trying to figure out the best way to get the largest number of people in town a shot in the arm.”
The potential issue of transporting residents across the river was not lost on the Selectboard this week. Kuklewicz suggested that it might be possible for Montague to use its pandemic aid money from the federal government to create a shuttle service to and from the John Zon Community Center.
The Greenfield clinic has already been vaccinating about 150 people a day, according to Greenfield Interim Health Director Jennifer Hoffman. However, she added, the clinic should have the capacity to double that rate.
So far the Greenfield clinic has only been offering vaccines to those who qualify for the state’s first phase of vaccination, which mostly includes health care workers and first responders. Greenfield expects to open Phase 2 next week, Hoffman said, which begins with people over the age of 75. Elsewhere across the state, Phase 2 vaccine distribution began on Monday.
Montague is still considering opening its own vaccination clinic at some point, and it will probably be at Town Hall when it does, according to Ellis. But no plan to do so has been discussed publicly.
Reach Max Marcus at [email protected] or 413-930-4231.
