Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker toured a vaccination clinic in Pittsfield Thursday before giving an update on the state’s COVID-19 situation.
The Republican came to the Paterson Field House at Berkshire Community College to tout his administration’s accomplishments in rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Over 5.3 million total doses have been administered here in Massachusetts," said Baker. "And over the past weekend, we crossed an important milestone with 2 million people in Massachusetts fully vaccinated. And this past Monday, as most people know, Patriots’ Day, everyone who's 16 years or older, is now eligible to be vaccinated here in Massachusetts.”
Baker said that with more supply of vaccine from the federal government, the state could double or triple its vaccination capabilities.
“We currently ranked first in the nation in both first doses and total doses administered per capita among states that have more than 5 million people," said the Republican. "That's about 24 states. Over 85% of our residents over the age of 75 have received a first dose, which is significantly higher than the national average. And we outperform nearly every other state when it comes to the percentage of our Black and Hispanic residents who've also received first doses.”
The governor said Berkshire County was one of the first areas in the state to pursue the regional collaborative model.
“As of last Thursday, Berkshire County reported – it's actually Berkshire and Barnstable County, those two regional collaboratives, the bookends here in Massachusetts – have reported the highest rates of the percentage of population that have received the first dose," said Baker. "Yours is currently at about 45%.”
He acknowledged that equity gaps in the state’s response to COVID-19 continue.
“We still have a lot of work to do in communities of color, which have borne the brunt of this pandemic in many ways," said the governor. "That's why we've been doubling down on our efforts to ensure people are informed about vaccine safety and efficacy, and to come up with strategies – literally door knocks, pickups, mobile sites, and a variety of other approaches to help them get vaccinated.”
Baker’s handling of the vaccination rollout has been the subject of much criticism, prompting hearings on Beacon Hill and Western Massachusetts politicians like Democratic State Senator Adam Hinds to declare it an outright failure. In a statehouse hearing earlier in April, Dr. Jarvis Chen of Harvard University noted that the state’s weak healthcare data reporting has obfuscated the full degree to which communities of color have disproportionately born the worst of COVID-19. WAMC asked the governor about what he’d learned from his administration’s considerable struggles with the rollout.
“The idea that one size fits all, in any of this makes no sense, because we have 7 million people living in a whole variety of different ways, in terms of population density, geography, access to existing healthcare, infrastructure, and all the rest," said Baker. "And I think the thing we have to do when we get into a place, in a position like this, is recognize and appreciate that what works in Eastern Mass is going to be different than what works in Western Mass than works in Central Mass than works on the Cape.”
