In response to Republican Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to limit vaccine access, the first-term Democrat announced plans to preserve the ability of Massachusetts residents to secure shots.
“The governor's putting in place a new policy where the Department of Public Health – our commissioner, our secretary – will be able to issue guidelines for what vaccines we consider safe and what vaccines can be considered available and reliably available here in Massachusetts," State Senator Paul Mark of the Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire District. “What the governor has done right now is going to make sure that if you want to – I know I'm going to want to, I'm going to want to go get my booster when it's when it's available to me – that we can go into our local pharmacies and we can have our insurance pay for it.”
The Democrat says he’s heard from worried constituents that they would be unable to protect themselves from COVID-19, the flu, and other diseases that vaccines defend against.
“When we consider what's happening with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services and what potential edicts are going to start coming down from the new CDC that is following that direction, it seems like, at least, as we sit here in Massachusetts, not really following the greatest scientific perspective of how to distribute vaccines and how to make sure people are staying healthy, I think it's important that in our sovereign powers as a state, that we're taking the lead on figuring out a way to make sure that people are able to get the vaccines that they want and that they need,” Mark told WAMC.
Tricia Farley-Bouvier, the Democratic State Representative who represents the 2nd Berkshire District in Boston, agrees.
“Vaccines and health in general should, in a normal world, would have nothing to do with politics," she saaid. "This should be far above any political machinations that are happening in the country or in the state. Unfortunately, we do not live in that world right now, and I'm really proud, impressed, and grateful to Governor Healey for her leadership in saying that whatever chaos is happening in DC, here in Massachusetts, we are going to keep people safe and healthy when it comes to vaccines, and so she took bold, strategic steps to make sure that people who want vaccines can get vaccines, and that insurance companies will be paying for them.”
State Representative John Barrett of the 1st Berkshire District, also a Democrat, says vaccines are particularly important in a region with a large population of older adults.
“We found out about it over Labor Day weekend, we were encouraging the governor to take immediate steps to make vaccinations available to those who need it," he told WAMC. "So, I think the steps that she's taken are great. I think we also have to be aware that anybody who wants a vaccination, be vaccinated, should get it. Those that don't want it, that's their opportunity to say no. But we have to have availability, especially in place like Northern Berkshire, where a high number of our percentage of our citizens are over the age of 60.”
Healey’s plan says Massachusetts will “guarantee insurance coverage of vaccines recommended by the state,” regardless of age, income or insurance status. This includes access to “respiratory virus vaccines, like COVID, flu and RSV, and routine vaccines for children, like measles, chickenpox, and Hepatitis B.”
“There's a lot of federal chaos going on, and because of that, no one should lose access to lifesaving vaccines. And for me, this is what the commonwealth does best, and it leads when Washington won't. And we see so many folks that, especially with those that have fewer resources to see doctors, that the easiest way for them to receive that vaccine is to go to a local pharmacy," said Democrat Leigh Davis, who represents the 3rd Berkshire District. “Who would have thought that we'd be having this discussion after seeing over a million deaths from COVID in the US? This policy is going to save lives. I mean, full stop. And what I'm happy about is, this keeps healthcare decisions where they belong, which is between patients and their doctors. So, what we need to do is insulate ourselves from this federal attack on science and our healthcare system.”
As other states react to the Trump Administration’s anti-vaccine policies, Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul this month enacted a "statewide disaster emergency" declaration to assure continued vaccine access.
