While COVID-19 vaccine distribution got off to a rocky start earlier last week, it seemed to get a little better by week’s end, at least to the extent that some county seniors were receiving COVID-19 vaccines and more were planned for this week.
The city of Greenfield is preparing for its Phase 2 kickoff this week. Greenfield Interim Health Director Jennifer Hoffman said the city has 700 doses of the vaccine and will start to give first responders and “essential” personnel their second dose beginning Feb. 10, at the same time it will begin vaccinating seniors ages 75 and older.
“The process will be a mirror image of last month,” she said. “Everything went smoothly, and we expect that to continue. The first clinic was very successful, and we’re all working hard together to make sure Phase 2 is as well.”
Hoffman, along with Mayor Roxann Wedegartner and Greenfield Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Robert Strahan, announced the opening of the city’s Phase 2 vaccination clinic for residents of Franklin County at the John Zon Community Center, 35 Pleasant St.
The clinic will be open Tuesday, Feb. 9, from 2 to 6 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 10, from 2 to 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 12, from 11 a.m to 6 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 13, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. More dates are: Feb. 17, Feb. 18 and Feb. 19. The number of appointments will be determined by the amount of vaccine doses.
On those dates, the city will also be working to complete vaccination efforts of local home health care workers.
To register, call 413-775-6411. All voicemails to the phone line will be answered. Leave your name and phone number. People can also register at maimmunizations.org.
The Greenfield Health Department is reaching out to councils on aging and home health care providers to assist in the effort to get as many vaccinated as possible. There will not be a public registration process, but additional details will be provided as soon they become available.
On Wednesday, Feb. 24, the city will launch a Phase 2 COVID-19 vaccination clinic for all eligible people living in Franklin County. That clinic will be open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with hours of operation to be determined. At that point, the Greenfield Health Department will be opening registration for all eligible residents of Franklin County with both online and phone registration options available.
“This has been a long, tough road, but we are glad to be making this announcement and offering this additional service in Greenfield,” Hoffman said. “This would not have happened without the state, our city staff and our incredible agency and municipal partners in the region.”
Wedegartner said everyone has learned this year about the complexity of public health and the cooperation needed to give people access to necessary services.
“As a city, we are proud to be able to offer this assistance at this time,” she said, thanking all who were involved in making the clinics happen.
By the end of last week, local pharmacies had started announcing their plans. The mayor said the municipal clinic follows existing public-private partnership COVID-19 vaccine clinics that are currently open at several pharmacies, including CVS on Federal Street in Greenfield (bit.ly/3jvepCQ), Big Y on the Mohawk Trail in Greenfield (bit.ly/39VKccZ), University of Massachusetts Amherst Campus Center (bit.ly/3aDl7Th) and Eastfield Mall on Boston Road in Springfield (bit.ly/3ryc9O1). Appointments at those clinics may be made online at the links given.
For more about vaccinations in Greenfield, call the city’s COVID-19 information line at 413-775-6411.
Some of the area’s doctors had also started calling patients to bring them in for their first dose. Doctors made it clear that they will call eligible patients — they should not call doctors for their first dose.
Valley Medical Group and the Community Health Center of Franklin County have begun vaccinating eligible patients. Additionally, on Sunday, Baystate Health announced it is opening a Greenfield Vaccination Center at Baystate Franklin Medical Center, 164 High St., that will be open Monday, Feb. 8, and Tuesday, Feb. 9, from 8 a.m. to noon. Eligible individuals can make an appointment at BaystateHealth.org/BestShotGreenfield.
Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) Director of Community Services Phoebe Walker said six registered municipal sites are eligible to receive Phase 2 vaccines and the agency is directly coordinating with five of them. The plan is to pool the five sites’ doses and have them available in Greenfield.
“We’re also working with Orange to keep each other apprised of each other’s planning efforts,” Walker said. Orange will be running drive-thru clinics for residents of Orange, Wendell, New Salem and Athol. People can get updates, if they are online, by visiting frcog.org. The agency also provides a COVID-19 hotline with regularly updated vaccine information at 413-774-3167, ext. 153.
Residents of Franklin County are also encouraged to volunteer at vaccine clinics by joining the county’s Medical Reserve Corps. For more information or to sign up, visit bit.ly/3cINqCg or bit.ly/3ttmtbN.
FRCOG, along with the Mohawk Area Public Health Coalition, Franklin County Regional Emergency Planning Committee, Cooperative Public Health Service and registered municipal vaccine providers will distribute information in the form of print, online, social media and telephone hotline weekly or more frequently through the Multi-Agency Coordination Center, Walker said. The agency and its partners will monitor and work with hospitals, community health centers and other private vaccine providers, and share resources, including staff, volunteers, equipment and, initially, the vaccine.
FRCOG and the Northwestern Massachusetts Incident Management Team will provide overall regional coordination with FRCOG Emergency Preparedness Program Manager Tracy Rogers as incident commander. Clinic volunteers, both medical and non-medical, will be provided by the Medical Reserve Corps, and first responders will be called upon to provide support such as traffic control and emergency medical services.
Local boards of health plan to volunteer in February through the Medical Reserve Corps as needed. LifePath also plans to help by having its volunteers answer phones to help eligible seniors who have questions about the vaccine.
The agency will hold a vaccination clinic at Tree House Brewing Co. in South Deerfield, provided vaccines are available, on Thursday, Feb. 18, and Friday, Feb. 19, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Registration for those dates will be on the state’s website (bit.ly/3aIua5r) but not before Friday, Feb. 12.
During the week of Feb. 22, FRCOG hopes to hold a vaccination clinic at Mohawk Trail Regional School in Buckland for two days, and during the week of March 1, hopes to be at Kringle Candle Co. in Bernardston for two days. Days and times at both locations are still to be determined. The priority of those clinics will be to serve people who cannot travel to the larger sites or receive a vaccine through other sources.
FRCOG emphasizes that plans change rapidly and often, so people need to be patient, but changes in federal response include the expansion of vaccine distribution, funding for state and local responses and the potential for federal vaccination sites opening throughout the country, including in Western Massachusetts.
“Responses to changes are always ongoing,” Walker said. “We’re also learning from what we’re doing.”
Through the winter and Phase 2, sites will be indoors, she said. Because the amount of vaccine distributed to local providers will be limited in February, Greenfield’s John Zon Community Center on Pleasant Street will be the primary vaccination site through February, Walker said.
Phase 3 is expected to begin in the spring, and that’s when the general population will be able to be vaccinated. When that happens, FRCOG and its partners are planning for large outdoor drive-thru sites, many of which have been held in the past to administer flu vaccines.
FRCOG holds a COVID Coordination Roundtable open to “municipal stakeholders” every two weeks. To attend and hear updates, visit frcog.org. Or, contact Walker at walker@frcog.org or 413-774-3167, ext. 102.
The state’s call center is now open to answer questions about the COVID-19 vaccine and help people make appointments. Currently, seniors ages 75 and older may call 211 for help Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m. For more information about COVID-19 vaccines and testing, visit the state’s website at bit.ly/3oUZ0Nc.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.