Gov’s vax actions suggest message was received

By now it’s fairly obvious that this state’s execution and explanation of its COVID-19 vaccine policy needed a shot in the arm.

Uncertainty concerning the priority and timetable for these inoculations continued to raise residents’ anxiety.

In a clear message meant to express this frustration, Karen Spilka, an Ashland Democrat and president of the state Senate, told

WCVB’s “On the Record” Sunday that there’s too much confusion about the administering of COVID-19 vaccines and not enough clear communication from the state and federal governments.

“Most people don’t know when it’s going to be their turn. … They want to protect themselves. It’s still scary times,” Spilka, 68, said.

Before vaccinations became available in mid-December, Gov. Charlie Baker laid out a risk-based, threephase priority-based plan, and rough estimates of when the vaccine phases would occur

Health care workers dealing with COVID-19 patients and first responders were among the first to receive the vaccine, followed by those who live or work in congregate-care sites, such as jails and prisons; recently Baker fully opened the first phase, making home health workers and others in health care eligible.

Spilka said the state faces three immediate needs: an increased supply of vaccines, more information about vaccine delivery and “clear messaging.”

“We are hearing from people not knowing when they are in line for vaccines,” she said. “They hear that their relative or friend from some other area within the state — 65 and above — were able to get their first vaccination. They’re being told they are not ready yet. It’s not their turn. They don’t understand why.”

That undoubtedly rang true for those 65 and older.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccine access for that age group, but the state plan, Spilka said, places those 65 and older at “the end of the second phase, which is probably like March or something at this point.”

That lack of urgency flies in the face of CDC data that indicate individuals 65 and older have accounted for more than 80% of COVID-19-related U.S. deaths.

There are 1 million Massachusetts’ residents in that category.

“I think the three phases and all that’s involved in the different levels of each phase is confusing and hopefully if we get a large influx of vaccines, we will be able to do it faster and better,” Spilka said.

Baker last week said approvals of vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson could dramatically accelerate inoculations.

But Massachusetts can’t expect to receive a boost in doses until it does a better job of exhausting the COVID shots it already has.

As it stands, the commonwealth trails every other

New England state, as well as New York, in the number of vaccine doses administered per capita, according to federal figures cited in a recent Boston Globe report.

As of last week, less than 5.4% of Massachusetts residents had been inoculated, compared to 8% of residents in Connecticut, over 10% in West Virginia, and 11% in Alaska.

Unlike some other states, Massachusetts has no designated website where people can sign up for injections, an oversight that adds to residents’ growing frustration.

That helps explains why only about 43% of doses shipped to Massachusetts have been administered so far, according to federal data reviewed by the Globe.

That’s unacceptable. However, we’re glad to see that the governor appears to have received the message of Spilka and others with Monday’s announcement that phase 2 of his vaccination plan will commence Feb. 1, with those 75-plus and 65plus at that the front of the line, along with the expansion of mass-vaccination locations.

We urge the administration to continue concentrating on those two fronts: dramatically expediting the inoculation-delivery process and inoculating those 65 and older with dispatch.