‘It’s going to be good for the area’
Mass. cities hope to establish
a regional vaccination clinic
ATTLEBORO — The city is joining with four other municipalities in an effort to create a regional coronavirus vaccination clinic that would inoculate 750 people a day.
Mayor Paul Heroux said Attleboro has partnered with Taunton, Fall River, Somerset and Swansea and jointly applied to the state’s Department of Public Health for the clinic.
A decision is expected within weeks, he said.
Heroux said he had hoped to keep the application quiet until a decision is made because he did not want people to get their hopes up, but the news leaked out.
If the application is approved each community would administer vaccinations one day a week. For example, Attleboro would vaccinate on Mondays at LaSalette Shrine, the mayor said.
He said there would likely be as many as 10-12 vaccinators per clinic and local health nurses would take part.
Somerset and Swansea share a health department and
would hold a joint clinic.
Participants, who could be from anywhere in Massachusetts, would have to register for an appointment, but how that will work won’t be made public unless the application is approved.
Currently there’s a shortage of vaccine, which makes it hard to get appointments.
Heroux released data from DPH that showed how the city is faring so far.
The numbers show that 17 percent, or 7,878, of the
city’s 46,517 residents have received at least one of the two required shots.
A total of 4,174 residents, or 8.9 percent of the city’s population, have been fully vaccinated.
The numbers also show that 47.5 percent, or 1,435 of Attleboro’s 3,017 residents 75 years old and older, the most vulnerable population, have been fully vaccinated and 70 percent have received at least one shot.
Meanwhile, 39 percent, or 1,628 of Attleboro’s next most vulnerable population, those between the ages of 65 and 74, have received at least one shot.
And 9.5 percent, or 394 of those 4,146, are fully vaccinated.
The opportunity to set up regional clinics was created when the state decided to stop supplying individual communities with vaccine for their own clinics, which outraged local health departments including Attleboro’s.
The city’s health workers were administering at least 80 vaccinations a week.
Attleboro still needs to administer 50 second doses to people who got first doses.
Most of the available vaccine goes to the state’s seven mass vaccination sites.
State Rep. Jim Hawkins D-Attleboro said regional clinics are a good idea and should be approved.
“It’s going to be a lot more comfortable for people...and good for the area,” he said.
Hawkins tried to get a regional test site set up in Attleboro and was critical of the state for not putting one in the city.