Rep. Nguyen Calls For More Regional Collaborative Vaccines

ANDOVER, MA — State Rep. Tram Nguyen joined dozens of other state legislators in calling for the state government to prioritize Regional Collaborative vaccine distribution sites.

Regional Collaboratives have the capacity to administer up to 3,750 vaccines per week and the state legislators want them to receive a larger portion of the vaccine supply as it increases.

“Local vaccination clinics work,” Nguyen said. “They are much more accessible to seniors and people with disabilities, as well as low-income families with no transportation. They have also been incredibly effective in vaccinating local teachers so that schools can return to full-time learning safely. It benefits all of our communities to increase vaccine supply to the regional collaboratives.”

Lawrence General Hospital is running a regional collaborative at the South Lawrence East School, 165 Crawford St in Lawrence.

The 54 legislators, in their letter to Health and Human Services Secretary MaryLou Sudders, noted that there are not mass vaccination sites in every county and not every resident can easily access those sites.

“We speak a great deal about vaccine equity,” Nguyen said. “But it’s not equitable to make those in hard-hit communities have to compete for local doses, or travel an hour to a mass vaccination site. Local clinics can better address vaccine hesitancy as well, as trust is already established. Equity means supplying regional sites to their full capacity — which is substantial."

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.