Swampscott Native's Charge To Get Vaccine To Those Most At Risk

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — In the week more than one million state residents became eligible for the coronavirus vaccine, Diana Rastegayeva and her crew of more than 500 volunteers are concentrating on those the vaccination registration system has largely left behind over the past few months.

What began as savvy navigation of the state's web-based appointment system to get the Swampscott native and Somerville resident's family and relatives of friends vaccinations when those 75 years old or older became eligible in early February has grown to a network that has helped more than 13,000 state residents gain shots through Massachusetts COVID Vaccination Help.

"They are only targeting a relatively small subset of the population who has access to the tools they are developing," Rastegayeva told Patch. "If you don't have internet, if you are not on Twitter, if you don't speak English, you may not have access to the technologies they are developing."

While Gov. Charlie Baker routinely touts the state's strategy to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible as a successful one based on vaccination rates that compare favorably to states of similar populations, Rastegayeva says relying on the mass vaccination system is leaving too many people behind. Baker has stressed the immediate goal was to get those most vulnerable for a severe outcome from the coronavirus — those over 65 years old and those who care for that population — vaccinated to drive down overall cases of hospitalizations and deaths, Rastegayeva and her volunteers look to assist the forgotten subset in that age group who are at the very most at risk.

"These are people who are less likely to succeed in the current system," she said. "These are non-English-speaking people, people in the hardest-hit areas, (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), people with accessibility issues, older individuals.

"There are systemic barriers that are blocking out a lot of people. Where COVID is in the community most it's been a really bad story. These are the BIPOC populations. They are not being vaccinated at the same rate as white people.

"It's not a story of hesitancy. It's a story of access."

To help with that access, Rastegayeva sought to expand her efforts that started with friends and family and soon became friends and family she barely knew of the friends she did know.

"That was fine," she said. "But I wanted to focus on more people and more people who really needed the help who didn't have someone else to help them."

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The website launched in late February as volunteers from a Facebook mom's community group who worked with Rastegayeva's initial tips to develop a bit of "expertise" in navigating the online system on their own.

The network now includes technical support and language translators as well as those booking the appointments. Anyone can request assistance, but help is weighted toward those who have a lesser ability to help themselves.

"It's easy to say that some people are just not interested in getting the vaccine," she said. "That's not true. Some people cannot sit around for 15 hours a day refreshing websites. Some people don't speak English. They work three jobs. The state's website is only in two languages (Spanish and English). But there are a lot more groups out there who need help.

"It's incredibly inequitable."

Rastegayeva said her network works on a micro level to get each person accepted an appointment they can actually make — whether that be on a weekend, later hours, or the need to be on a line of public transportation — through finding openings at pharmacies and community health centers for those for whom mass vaccination sites are not an option.

"We try to meet people where they are," she said. "We have done 13,000 appointments, which has zero impact on a whole-system level, but makes a huge impact on a personal level for those who really need the help."

Rastegayeva, who has been doing this volunteer work during a maternity leave she has already extended an extra two weeks using her own vacation time, said the hope is that as more vaccine becomes available, accessibility issues will lessen the burden on her team to focus on those with the most complex cases and in highest of need.

She said volunteers are still being enlisted for all aspects of the operation, but that they are especially in need of translators who speak Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole, Vietnamese and Khmer. She said she is hoping word can be spread among the communities struggling most to find the vaccine that this help is available.

"When I started it, I never imagined where we would be now," she said. "We will do this as long as needed.

"Who knows what the next challenges will be? I can see some things that are just not going to be taken care of in any way in the short term."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)