Don't Call Brookline Health Department About Vaccine: Officials

BROOKLINE, MA — The town's health department has been inundated calls about the vaccine and are having a hard time focusing on the rest of their work. So, they're asking residents not to call them about the vaccine anymore. Instead, they said, they've opened a call center to field questions from the community on the vaccines.

" Brookline residents are strongly urged to refrain from calling the town's Department of Public Health, and instead refer to the state website for the most up-to-date vaccine information. Public Health staff are currently working hard to conduct contact tracing, and calls for vaccine information interrupt those efforts," officials said.

The call center will be open from Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until further notice, according to the town, similar to the call center they opened during the beginning of the pandemic.

This will free the Department of Public Health to focus on contact tracing and stopping the spread of the coronavirus, according to the health department.

When Can You Be Vaccinated?

The main question that everyone has, is "when can I be vaccinated?" So, the Brookline Department of Public Health has collaborated with the Office of Emergency Management to develop a form that community members can fill out in order to better understand when they will be eligible for the vaccine, and to sign up for updates.

Eligibility has been expanded to include everyone in Phase 1 of the state's distribution plan. To find out if you're included in that group, click here. Those who are eligible to be vaccinated now may find vaccination sites by visiting mass.gov/CovidVaccineMap.

So far, more than 1,500 members of the community have completed the questionnaire.

To help Brookline understand the latest about the COVID-19 vaccine and its rollout, the Brookline Health Department is hosting a panel discussion set for Feb. 2.

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.