Home/News from NPR/Why Young, Healthy Researchers Are Being Vaccinated Before Seniors In Massachusetts
The state is a medical hub with giant hospitals and a huge healthcare workforce. Young adults who work in that field are getting the COVID-19 vaccine while at-risk seniors wait on the sidelines.
Why Young, Healthy Researchers Are Being Vaccinated Before Seniors In Massachusetts
By Gabrielle Emanuel
January 29, 2021
In Massachusetts, many young, healthy medical researchers are rolling up their sleeves to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, at-risk elderly are waiting on the sidelines. According to the state’s phased vaccine rollout, seniors are not yet eligible for the shots but everyone employed by a hospital, including those working remotely, can get it.
WORCESTER The Telegram & Gazette hosted a panel of city and health officials who took questions on the COVID-19 vaccine and distribution Thursday.
The panel was made up of Worcester Medical Director Dr. Michael P. Hirsh, Public Health Director Karyn Clark, City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. and Dr. Robert Finberg, an infectious diseases specialist for UMass Memorial Health Care.
The session, with Dave Nordman, executive editor of the Telegram & Gazette, sharing reader questions, was streamed via Facebook Live.
As Massachusetts prepares to enter Phase 2 of vaccine distribution in February, several readers had questions about eligibility requirements, vaccine distribution and when they can expect to get a dose. The panelists explained misconceptions about the vaccine, the possibility of a super site in the city and the likely timing of vaccine availability.
Listen • 3:46
A Boston EMS ambulance crew wheels in a patient to MGH from their ambulance in Boston on April 8, 2020. Hospitals brace for a surge in patients.
In Massachusetts, many young, healthy medical researchers are rolling up their sleeves to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, at-risk elderly are waiting on the sidelines. According to the state s phased vaccine rollout, seniors are not yet eligible for the shots but everyone employed by a hospital, including those working remotely, can get it.
This situation has infuriated many elderly
adults
.Carol Halberstadt, 82, is one of them.
She has been alone in her apartment just outside Boston since the beginning of the pandemic. Nobody comes in. Nobody goes out.
Leominster Champion
UMass Memorial Health Care announced that Steve Roach has been officially named the president of UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital in Leominster after serving as interim president since October 2019.
Roach will continue to serve as president of UMass Memorial Marlborough Hospital as well.
“Steve has been an invaluable leader within the UMass Memorial Health Care system for the past seven years,” said Robert Paulhus Jr., chairman of the Hospital Board of Trustees. “He brings immense experience in health care to the position and has certainly shown his expertise leading HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital through such challenging times as the coronavirus pandemic and recovering from financial losses over the last two years. His work at Marlborough Hospital since 2013 helped stabilize that organization and he has brought that same tenacity for improvement to HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital. His track record at previous institutions has shown hi