Spilka: Allow local boards of health to give vaccines
Calls on Baker to change policy
State Senate President Karen Spilka says Gov. Charlie Baker needs to go a step further and charge local boards of health with vaccinating teachers in order to ensure educators get their shots before classes resume full-time next month.
“I believe we need to follow the science and listen to the experts, who seem to be saying let’s get at least one vaccination into the arms of teachers.
“I believe the most efficient way to do that is to bring the vaccination into the communities,” the Ashland Democrat said during a Sunday appearance on WBZ’s “Keller at Large.” “Our local boards of health, our local communities have been practicing for this for years and years.”
Spilka’s comments on Sunday build on a statement she released last week in which she called on Baker to earmark a portion of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine shipment for teachers. Massachusetts received 56,000 doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week — its first shipment since the shot earned emergency-use authorization from the FDA.
In response to President Biden’s directive to states to get “at least” one shot into the arms of educators by the end of March, Baker on Wednesday announced he was moving up eligibility for teachers and support staff. They will become eligible to schedule appointments on Thursday.
But Spilka’s argument taps into another controversial move by the Republican governor that last month cut most local boards of health out of the effort to vaccinate the state’s eligible residents.
“They were gearing up when the pandemic first started and the vaccination effort first started and then they were told ‘Nope, we’re not going to be using you,'” Spilka said. “But if you want to get teachers vaccinated, they don’t have time to spend hours on the website which is confusing and anxiety-provoking — I know that firsthand.”
The state’s online appointment-booking website has been under fire in recent weeks as long wait times, crashing servers and other problems have foiled attempts to sign up for vaccines.
Spilka said she envisions local distribution of vaccines to teachers using local boards of health to line up appointments and get shots into educators’ arms “almost like an assembly line.”