By Dan Kennedy • The press, politics, technology, culture and other passions

Dueling takes on the state’s companion vaccine program

From today’s New York Times:
And today’s Boston Globe:

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4 Comments

  1. I’m over 65 and short of 75. I’m waiting until Feb 20 for the Commonwealth to get their act together. After that, I’ve got an appointment near my son’s house outside of Philly.

  2. MagellanNH

    I may have missed it, but I haven’t seen reporting on the number of people this policy applies to or the current percent of the over 75 population that’s already been vaccinated.

    It’d make a big difference to me if this policy was designed as a clever incentive to reach that last 10-20% of the over 75 cohort compared to if it was rolled out on day one and applied to everyone.

  3. Steve Ross

    I’m 3 months shy of 75. My wife is over 65 with severe comorbidities. If I get sick, she will be in great danger. Her hospital (in the Longwood complex) had expected vaccine for her by end of January and like most hospitals has system in place to vaccinate patients as they have already vaccinated staff. We live in a COVID Hotspot community. The state had, as of yesterday, 1.5 million doses on hand. I was at CVS Thursday to pick up prescription. They are handling 75+ only, and no one was waiting in line.

    So why not get more people eligible for shots? You know, like most of the rest of the country?

    All I can think of (as someone who is not an epidemiologist but has been doing occasional statistical work for CDC) is that the Commonwealth is worried about the optics of higher % White getting vaccinated, even though, given the supply on hand and the available personnel, no shot going to a White recipient would reduce the number of shots going to non-Whites. Either that, or the state’s government is incompetent and science-free.

    I’ve been willing to wait, but not for just keeping doses on the (cold) shelf.

  4. Steve Ross

    BTW, the 1.5 million doses on hand is a LOT. So far, the state has administered about 1 million doses TOTAL, with about 250,000 people having a second dose already, and 500,000 having only their first dose. There is not a logistics manager in the country in any industry, who would keep her or his job with that performance.

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