Maura’s mystery tour rolls along
State Attorney General Maura Healey says the Baker administration has “course corrected” on some aspects of its rocky coronavirus vaccine rollout after “huge misses” earlier on, but that equity issues remain.
“It’s getting better every day,” Healey said after touring a local vaccine site in Randolph. But, she added, “the governor and the administration need to stay focused on ensuring that vaccinations are going to the communities that have been most devastated and remain most at risk.”
Healey embarked on a six-stop tour of South Shore businesses, community centers and vaccination sites on Thursday — the latest in a series of local excursions that have left the state’s top law enforcement officer batting away growing speculation she’s mulling a run for governor.
“I’m just visiting my friends on the South Shore to thank them and see the incredibly important work that they’re doing,” she said in Randolph.
Later, outside a food pantry in Brockton, Healey waved away questions about her jam-packed schedule, saying it was parfor-the-course with her pre-COVID routine.
“I look at it as really just an opportunity, certainly, to see what more our office can be doing, and also just as a reminder personally about why I do this work,” Healey said.
But Healey’s critiques of the vaccine rollout and her growing number of public appearances as of late are raising eyebrows about her potential gubernatorial ambitions in 2022, especially with Baker remaining mum on whether he’s seeking a third term. She’s long been floated as a possible candidate, and is already giving Baker a run for his money in at least one hypothetical polling matchup.
“She’d have my support,” Maria Brennan, a United Way of Greater Plymouth County program manager who’s active in Democratic circles and has voted for Healey before, said in Brockton. “I’d definitely like to see that happen.”
Healey — except when pressed by the press — kept her message Thursday centered on championing local vaccination centers like Randolph’s and pushing the Baker administration to keep improving equity in access.
“I’ve been, from the beginning, a big proponent of local control,” Healey said. “There’s a role and
there’s an importance to the mass vax sites. But just being here today, you see that it’s local people that know their community, they have the personnel, they know how to execute.”
State Sen. Walter Timilty, D-Milton, who joined Healey in Randolph, was one of 54 lawmakers who signed onto a letter Thursday urging Baker to prioritize regional collaboratives for
doses.
“The police, the fire, the boards of health have trained for this for years,” Timilty said, calling it a “colossal missed opportunity.”