Taking it to the streets: Community outreach workers urge Springfield residents to get COVID vaccinations
Posted May 12, 2021
SPRINGFIELD Community activists and outreach workers have been taking it to the streets in Springfield, knocking on doors and urging residents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The outreach effort, funded by the state Department of Public Health, returns to the Ward 4 area Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The program has been concentrating in recent weeks on areas hardest hit by the pandemic, officials said.
Zaida Luna, a community activist in the North End and a former city councilor, said Tuesday she has enjoyed being a team leader in the effort to encourage people to be vaccinated.
Massachusetts is in the midst of a high-stakes campaign to vaccinate 4.1 million adults in an effort to bring an end to a pandemic that has sickened hundreds of thousands and caused more than 17,300 deaths in the state.
Holyoke, Chicopee roll out COVID vaccine bus
Updated May 06, 2021;
HOLYOKE – When the COVID-19 vaccine bus arrived, Maria and Gilberto Vargas and other members of their church were ready to step aboard.
The couple was among more than 120 people who were vaccinated on Thursday when Holyoke Health Center and Tufts Health Plan – Harvard Pilgrim Health unveiled the area’s first mobile clinic at Veteran’s Park on Maple Street.
The couple, who live in Springfield, learned about the free, walk-up clinic on Wednesday from a congregation member.
“A customer passed the information to her and she passed it to us and we passed it to all the brothers and sisters in the congregation,” said Vargas, adding her husband is the pastor of Jehova Tsidkenu in Chicopee. “A few of them have come already. We want the congregation to be safe.”
Mobile Vax effort launched Saturday in hard-hit communities, starting with East Boston bostonglobe.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bostonglobe.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
COVID cases up 39% in Boston as officials launch multilingual vaccine campaign in hard-hit communities
Updated 1:51 PM;
Amid a nearly 40% rise in COVID cases in Boston, Mayor Kim Janey has launched a new multilingual public awareness campaign in an effort to reach out to residents in the city’s communities of color, which are at the highest risk, about getting the vaccine.
“We know that people of color are more likely to get COVID-19, and if they do, they are more likely to die,” Janey said during a press conference on Tuesday. “We want everyone to get vaccinated so that we can get to the other side of this pandemic and ensure that we come to the other side a stronger community and a more equitable city.”