• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Wellesley Square
  • School
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Charities/Community
  • Arts
  • Camp
  • Kids
  • Environment/Sustainability
  • Events
  • About us
  • Subscribe
  • Natick Report
  • COVID-19
  • Letters to the Editor
  • 2021 Town Election
  • Bulletin Board
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Boston Sports Institute, Wellesley

Wellesley health officials frustrated with limited vaccine role; schools to discuss COVID-19 dashboard update

January 25, 2021 by Bob Brown 3 Comments

Word that the Commonwealth intends to rely mainly on regional COVID-19 vaccination centers and partnerships with commercial distributors like CVS for inoculations during Phase 2 of the state’s rollout plan has Wellesley’s Health Department and Board of Health grappling with what their role will be in all this. Phase 2 of the rollout starts Feb. 1 for the state, which as administered nearly 450,000  COVID-19 vaccine doses to date.

The Health Department successfully vaccinated first responders and town health employees earlier this month beginning on the first day it got the Moderna vaccine,  but opportunities for the town to vaccinate seniors, teachers, or others is starting to look less likely, based on discussion that took place Monday during the Board of Health’s meeting, which included Wellesley School Committee and Wellesley Public School reps.

Their meeting was held just prior to Gov. Charlie Baker sharing the state’s latest vaccination numbers and plans, which included bumping teachers down a smidge on the vaccination priority list. Board of Health Vice Chair Dr. Marcia Testa Simonson was joining the meeting straight from a call with other high-level health officials, so had the skinny on what the governor was slated to announcement during his briefing, and the health department was going to be back on a call with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health at the end of the day.

warren building rec health department

New information on vaccines is coming fast and furious, and vaccines were the topic of the day for the health and school officials. It has been top of mind for residents as well, according to Health Director Lenny Izzo.

“We’re getting a lot of emails, we’re getting a lot of criticism and comments around the vaccine rollout, a lot of remarks that we’re essentially hoarding or not sharing the vaccine, or opening up public clinics the way we should be,” he said. “The bottom line is just don’t have the vaccine.”

At the earliest, the town will get more vaccine mid-next week, he said, and at the most, the town will be able to request 100 doses per week, which it plans to do.

“The ball is in the state’s court right now,” Board of Health Chair Shep Cohen added.

Cities and towns across the state are receiving public health trust fund money and some have already hired people to do vaccinations, though now will perhaps have those people handle testing instead, Testa Simonson said.

It’s unclear at this point how the town or state will handle vaccines for homebound residents who may have great difficulty getting to a regional vaccination center, such as Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. The town is getting plenty of calls from its senior residents who are figuring town health personnel might be swinging by with vaccines for them, even though that isn’t likely how things will work.

Testa Simonson said that one role for local public health entities could be helping people schedule their vaccines, maybe even by setting up a call center to help people navigate the system. Perhaps the Council on Aging could also play a role in this, and helping to get people to where they need to go for vaccinations, board members said.

It’s unclear whether the CVS on Rte. 9 east in Wellesley will be a COVID-19 vaccination site, but Board of Health member Linda Oliver Grape noted that it does have a nice setup there that could accommodate such activity. The site already provides COVID-19 testing.

“We’ll see what happens,” Izzo said, about the overall vaccine plan. “[The state] always seems to change course.”

Wellesley Public Schools update

Upon hearing the state’s latest vaccine distribution plans, Wellesley Public Schools Supt. Dr. David Lussier said “I’m shocked that they’re not trying to leverage local resources to get this done.” Vaccinations for staff are the highest priority for school districts everywhere, he said: “That’s really going to be a catalyst for other things we may be able to do before the end of this school year.”

Lussier expressed surprise that teachers would be bumped down (even if only slightly) on the state’s priority list in light of the governor’s push to get more kids back in physical schools. “I had hoped we could develop a partnership, a local solution that would allow our staff to be vaccinated here in the community in which they work,” he said.

The logistics of getting teachers and staff to mass vaccination sites during the school day would be challenging, and a much less nimble solution than handling things locally, Lussier said. A professional organization for superintendents to which he belongs sent a letter to the governor last week strongly encouraging him to be thinking of February vacation as a good opportunity to get teachers vaccinated. Though as Board of Health members noted, that could be tough time-wise given that there are some big groups ahead of teachers on the schedule.

Lussier posed the question of whether it might behoove the town to approach an outfit like CVS to get a vaccination plan in place for when it is the teachers’ turn.

Separately, Lussier gave an update regarding COVID-19-related efforts at the school system. He made reference to a new state program to support pool testing at schools, but that solution is more labor intensive than the one Wellesley has already been using, so not attractive to Wellesley Public Schools. Lussier is hoping that perhaps state funding might be available to WPS even though it is not using a state-approved vendor or model. WPS is shifting from private to local funding to support its viral testing program, so state relief would be more than welcome.

The school system will also be hosting a webinar on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 6:30-8pm to discuss its plans to update the Wellesley Public Reopening Measures dashboard, which health and school representatives have been working to revise in light of new knowledge about the virus and its spread. Web links will be shared soon.

Wellesley COVID-19 cases booming

Ann Marie McCauley, the town’s public health nurse supervisor, said Wellesley is getting a lot of COVID-19 cases these days. She cited 20 new ones over the weekend and 16 more Monday morning, with Babson College numbers booming upon the return of students from their winter break.

Wellesley has largely been handling contact tracing for COVID-19 cases on its own, but the higher numbers have resulted in the town sending more to the state’s Community Tracing Collaborative.

As for vaccines, the town held two clinics last week, dispensing first-round doses to first responders and school nurses.


swellesley ad health

print

Share

Filed Under: COVID-19, Education, Government, Health

Comments

  1. Dennis McCormick says

    January 25, 2021 at 8:15 pm

    Teachers should be top priority. Compromised seniors, also. Healthy seniors, and there are many of us, can wait a little longer.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    January 25, 2021 at 7:43 pm

    Great update!!! Thank you!!

    Reply
  3. Jay Prosnitz says

    January 25, 2021 at 5:32 pm

    for those hunting for vaccines and qualify for phase 1 check the Gillette Stadium website daily.
    over the weekend there were no slots. This morning there were lots of slots at least for this Friday. The DPH website could be better. Unfortunately it does not save your data each time you hunt for appointments. Each time you open the website you have to repopulate multiple fields. The first time you fill in the data save it as a pdf on your hard drive. At least can copy and paste the information back into the fields the next day. Unless the situation notably changes seniors who are not comfortable with clumsy software and poorly designed websites will need help finding and saving appointments.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Write Ahead
Ann-Mara Lanza, Wellesley

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to [email protected]
Wellesley Square ad
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Fay School, Southborough
Wellesley Theatre Project
Admit Fit, Wellesley
image of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click here to read our Natick Report

Natick Report

Events Calendar

« February 2021 » loading...
S M T W T F S
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
1
2
3
4
5
6

Most Read Posts

  • Wellesley summer camp listings 2021 — find the experience of a lifetime
  • Newton-Wellesley Orthopedic Walk-In—no appointment needed
  • Wellesley Police log: Another reason to wear your seat belt; new animal control officer gets action right off the bat; bumper sticker spat; unlocked cars stolen; tracking snow prints
  • Wellesley Business Buzz: Wellesley Office Park transformation underway; Digging Natick’s new Beach House volleyball center; 6 more small businesses get COVID-19 relief; Prepped and Polished adds Wellesley location; NatureWorks Landscape opening in Church Square; storefronts in for artsy makeover
  • Wellesley DPW eyes parks as Green Zones

Pages

  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • How to submit your flyer for the Community Bulletin Board page
  • Wellesley Community Bulletin Board
  • Wellesley coronavirus (COVID-19) updates
  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads
  • Wellesley, Mass., fishing spots
  • Wellesley Choral Society
  • Wellesley College Notable Alumnae
  • Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.
  • Wellesley outdoor art gallery
  • Wellesley restaurants offering take-out and delivery
  • Wellesley, Massachusetts restaurant — Amarin of Thailand

Recent Comments

  • Jason on Letter to the editor: on celebrating two days
  • M. Miwakawa on Letter to the editor: concerns about denouncing Columbus
  • Donna Ticchi on Letter to the editor: in support of Columbus Day
  • Mary Bowers on Letter to the editor: concerns about denouncing Columbus
  • Donna Ticchi on Letter to the editor: concerns about denouncing Columbus

Links we like

  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Taquitos.net
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (16)
  • Animals (381)
  • Antiques (48)
  • Art (539)
  • Beyond Wellesley (28)
  • Books (343)
  • Business (1,369)
  • Camp (1)
  • Careers/jobs (44)
  • Churches (72)
  • Clubs (209)
  • Construction (280)
  • Dump (113)
  • Education (2,893)
    • Babson College (240)
    • Bates Elementary School (14)
    • Dana Hall School (29)
    • Fiske Elementary School (6)
    • Hardy Elementary School (33)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (34)
    • MassBay (47)
    • Schofield Elementary School (20)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (1)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (9)
    • Upham Elementary School (30)
    • Wellesley College (598)
    • Wellesley High School (888)
    • Wellesley Middle School (195)
  • Embracing diversity (44)
  • Entertainment (724)
  • Environment (673)
  • Fashion (134)
  • Finance (13)
  • Fire (142)
  • Food (328)
  • Fundraising (561)
  • Gardens (137)
  • Government (407)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
  • Health (745)
    • COVID-19 (140)
  • History (359)
  • Holidays (365)
  • Houses (120)
  • Humor (45)
  • Kids (815)
  • Law (3)
  • Letters to the Editor (12)
  • Media (63)
  • METCO (5)
  • Military (3)
  • Morses Pond (97)
  • Music (544)
  • Natick Report (28)
  • Neighbors (248)
  • Obituaries (58)
  • Outdoors (585)
  • Parenting (60)
  • Police (695)
    • Crime (350)
  • Politics (544)
  • Real estate (290)
  • Religion (127)
  • Restaurants (303)
  • Safety (142)
  • Scouts (1)
  • Senior citizens (110)
  • Shopping (123)
  • Sports (900)
  • STEM (104)
  • Technology (154)
  • Theatre (383)
  • Town Meeting (22)
  • Transportation (210)
  • Travel (11)
  • Uncategorized (1,206)
  • Volunteering (319)
  • Weather (167)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (258)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (5)
RSS Feed Icon Subscribe to RSS Feed

© 2021 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login