Arlington Wraps Up First Responder Vaccinations

ARLINGTON, MA — About 600 first responders from Arlington, Belmont and Lexington received their second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, wrapping up the first phase of a regional vaccine effort. This included police, fire, EMTs and support personnel, as well as school nurses who are administering testing in schools.

The clinic was held in the Arlington High School gymnasium.

"The cooperation and collaboration between Arlington, Belmont, and Lexington has been very productive," Arlington Fire Chief Kevin Kelley said. "We can easily double or triple our capacity for vaccinations and hope the state increases our vaccination allotments, so we can vaccinate more residents."

The initial first responder clinic on Jan. 12 provided 600 vaccinations. Since then, many communities – including Arlington, Belmont and Lexington – have only received 100 doses per week, making for a slow rollout locally, health officials said.

"Although the state is offering mass vaccination sites, a trip to Fenway Park or Gillette Stadium is more a journey for many of our seniors," Christine Bongiorno, director of Health & Human Services, said. "Our goal continues to be able to expand our ability to offer larger vaccination clinics locally. With our regional partners and local legislators, we will continue to advocate to the state our need for more doses of the vaccine for local public health to distribute."

Other priority groups listed in Phase 1 will be vaccinated through other programs as part of the state’s plan.

• Most health care workers will be vaccinated at their place of employment.
• First responders can visit mass.gov/FirstResponderVaccine for COVID-19 vaccine locations and more information (local public health).
• Individuals living and working in long term care will be vaccinated as part of the Federal Pharmacy Partnership Program.
• Vaccination for individuals in other congregate settings (e.g., group homes, shelters, corrections) will be coordinated by the management of those facilities.
• For eligible Phase 1 and 2 priority groups, view the state’s COVID-19 Vaccination site map.