Page 40 - BusinessWest March 3, 2021

Rob Whitten, executive director of the Leavitt Family Jewish Home, gets vaccinated in January. For the public, the process has been thornier.
Business of Aging
Taking Shots
Vaccine Rollout in Massachusetts Continues Its Rocky Pace
FBy Joseph Bednar
ebruary was the month all seniors in Massachusetts would finally be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Instead, it was a month of frustration.
“It’s simply inexcusable, in a state with the healthcare infrastructure and high-tech reputation we have, that the
vaccine rollout was allowed to fall behind every other state so quickly,” state Sen. Eric Lesser told BusinessWest, calling the state’s schedul-
ing website “an obstacle course with all these links and hoops to go through, instead of making it simple, like Travelocity or KAYAK or Open Table.”
That’s when it wasn’t crashing altogether, like it did two weeks ago, when the state opened up vaccine appointments to all individuals 65 and over, as well as individuals age 16 and older with two or more co- morbidities, from a list that includes asthma, cancer, obesity, diabetes, and a host of other conditions.
Later in phase 2, access will roll out to workers in the fields of edu- cation, transit, grocery stores, utilities, agriculture, public works, and public health, as well as individuals with one co-morbidity. Phase 3,
expected to begin in April, will include everyone else.
Lesser hopes the process — not just to schedule a vaccination, but
to get one — improves well before then. One positive was the establish- ment of a 24/7 call center for the many people who lack internet access (see related story on page 30), something he and dozens of other state lawmakers demanded.
Before that, with online-only signup, “you were locking out whole categories of people,” he noted. As for the website, “it is improving, but it’s still far too confusing and far too hard for people.”
In an address to the public last Thursday, Gov. Charlie Baker acknowledged the frustration around scheduling appointments, but noted that most of it comes down to supply and demand.
“I know how frustrated people are with the pace of the vaccine roll- out and how anxious they are to get themselves and their loved ones vaccinated,” he said, but noted that about 450,000 requests for first- dose vaccines arrive each week from hospitals, community health cen- ters, and other entities, but the state receives only 130,000 first doses of vaccine weekly from the federal government.
“We’re putting every dose we get to work each week,” Baker said. “But we don’t receive anywhere near enough vaccine each week from the feds to provide our existing vaccinators with what they request, or
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BUSINESS OF AGING
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