Baker, web design CEO to face questions today
Gov. Charlie Baker and the CEO of the Maryland company under fire for technical difficulties with the state’s coronavirus appointment booking website are among those in the hot seat today, called to testify before lawmakers.
The Republican governor and PrepMod CEO Tiffany Tate are among 21 panelists expected to be grilled during a five-hour hearing before the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management starting at 11 a.m., according to a schedule released on Wednesday.
Senate Co-Chairwoman Joanne Comerford said it’s the first of several planned hearings intended to “deepen engagement” with the Baker administration, which has — until now — held the reigns of the coronavirus response with little legislative pushback.
Baker has defiantly blamed federal shortages and repeated the state’s improving vaccine statistics in the days leading up to the oversight hearing, even as frustrations simmer over missteps and technology failures — including Thursday’s website crash and the state’s failure to stand up a call center before offering the vaccine to its oldest and least tech-savvy residents.
Comerford said the committee “doesn’t dispute the federal supply” issue but said, “we have a lot of work to do at the state level that is apart and separate from the quantity issue … to ensure the quality of the rollout.”
House Co-Chairman Rep. William Driscoll said that while it’s “very positive” the state has hit the 1.5 million mark for vaccines in arms, “the next few months really need to go a lot smoother.”
“No one on the committee would dispute federal supply is what’s been difficult, the issue is that we in Legislature have to take responsibility for what is the state’s part in the vaccine rollout,” Comerford said Lawmakers will also hear testimony from Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders, other lawmakers, medical experts and community leaders from across the state.