SHELBURNE FALLS — Seven-year-old Naia and 10-year-old Myka were playing on the playground with their family on Wednesday when they saw there was a free vaccine clinic being held inside the Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School. They went in and quickly received their yearly flu shots.
“We already had all of our other vaccines, so this clinic was serendipitous,” their father Mike Thorn said.
The Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) has been organizing vaccine clinics across the county for the past couple months to help increase access to vaccines in the region’s more rural areas.
Maureen O’Reilly, community health educator with FRCOG, explained the clinics have been well-attended, with about 60 people coming for strictly COVID-19 vaccine clinics, and more than 100 people coming to clinics where both flu and COVID-19 shots are offered. Public health nurses have also been visiting homebound patients who are interested in receiving vaccines.
On Wednesday, 275 people lined up from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School to get COVID-19 and flu shots in their arms.
“We always felt it is important to keep up-to-date with vaccines,” said Ashfield resident Alexandra Osterman, who attended the vaccine clinic with her 13- and 11-year-old daughters. “This makes it convenient to be up-to-date. I picked them up from the bus and came here. It is easier than going up to Greenfield.”
Hayley Gilmore, principal of Buckland-Shelburne Elementary, explained FRCOG reached out to the school and asked to use the building to host the clinic.
“I think it is important that anyone who wants to get vaccinated should,” Gilmore said. “In a rural area, we have limited doctors. This is decreasing traffic flow to doctor’s offices so they can deal with other things.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the bivalent boosters, produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, on Sept. 2. These new boosters — the type offered at Wednesday’s clinic — protect against both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the omicron variant BA.4 and BA.5.
Tom Dean, a teacher in the building and resident of Shelburne, sat at one of the small tables waiting the required 15 minutes to ensure he did not have a reaction to the booster.
“I got my last booster in December. It’s been a while,” Dean recounted. “I was looking for the right opportunity to get my next shot, and this was convenient. I got the flu shot as well.”
Buckland resident Patricia Schmidt explained she came to the clinic because she was unable to book an appointment at CVS or another local pharmacy as appointments had filled up quickly. She said she heard about the clinic through the Senior Center and was excited to be up-to-date on her vaccinations.
“It’s silly to not be protected if you can,” she said. “(The pandemic) is not over.”
Upcoming clinics will be held at: Greenfield High School on Oct. 28, from 3 to 5:30 p.m.; Four Rivers Charter Public School on Nov. 8, from 3 to 5 p.m.; and the Montague Town Hall Annex on Nov. 18, from 3 to 5 p.m. To register, visit bit.ly/3d0M6wC.
Bella Levavi can be reached at blevavi@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.