“I was very happy,” said Vega, “but at the same time, in communities of color, we made our own defense because, had we not made our own defense, we would not have even gotten a defense. [vaccination] location.”
Chelsea is 67 percent Latin and almost half of its residents are immigrants. Many are undocumented, work in low-paid jobs and live in crowded apartments. Virus rates in Chelsea are consistently among the highest in the state.
Since the outbreak began, Vega’s small non-profit organization has organized the response to health and economic crises in Chelsea, distributing thousands of meals to families in distress every week through its food pantry and now helping to immunize the family. community as well.
“We are exhausted in the city of Chelsea,” said Dinanyili Paulino, director of operations at La Collaborativa. “We’ve been talking a lot: why are you focusing on white neighborhoods and not [hard-hit communities]? “
The La Colaborativa location on 318 Broadway will open Thursday after several months of extensive renovations done pro bono by local painters and carpenters unions. When La Collaborativa launched its food pantry last spring to feed unemployed residents, the need was so overwhelming that the ground collapsed with pedestrian traffic, Paulino said. In July, they were forced to move the pantry to a warehouse on 6th Street while the office was undergoing repairs.
Workers were still installing countertops in the office kitchen on Wednesday, said Paulino, as staff at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center prepared space for vaccines.
“We wanted to be where people are, and there is no better place than Broadway and Bellingham Square,” said Manny Lopes, CEO of East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, of the partnership with La Collaborativa to host an injection site. “It is the most central place in Chelsea that people know, understand and recognize.”
Jessica Rinaldi / Globo Team
The East Boston Health Center contacted La Collaborativa – formerly known as Chelsea Collaborative – last Thursday about opening a vaccination site that would be widely accessible to the public. Vega was more than happy to hand over the keys. The office – which, despite appearances, is deceptively large – will have the capacity to inoculate up to 500 people a day, Lopes said, depending on the team and the state’s vaccine stock. For now, the clinic has about 100 appointments scheduled for Thursday, with some vacancies empty.
Governor Charlie Baker, in comments on Wednesday and earlier, defended how his government handled implementation, while pledging to do more to provide the vaccine to communities of color.
“This is obviously an ongoing process and we are also working to add more sites in some communities that have been particularly affected by COVID,” said Baker at Fenway Park’s mass vaccination site.
He said the state is collaborating with local health councils, community health centers and pharmacies on a variety of strategies “to make sure we cover more ground here in Massachusetts” in delivering the vaccine. About 125 vaccination sites are now operating, according to Baker, and another 40 are due to open in mid-February, including another 30 in pharmacies, many in communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, he said.
La Colaborativa’s vaccination site is at least Chelsea’s fourth and largest open to the public. On Monday, Walgreens on Broadway began administering vaccines to residents 75 and older, first responders and healthcare professionals. Vaccinations also begin on Thursday for eligible patients at Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare in Chelsea. Peter Shorett, director of integration at Beth Israel Lahey Health, said the Chelsea clinic, which opened at Parkway Plaza Shopping Center, will begin vaccinating 100 patients a day before increasing to 300 next week. Consultations are scheduled until February 12.
Chelsea is also testing a mobile vaccination program, according to Mayor Thomas Ambrosino, which is due to start on Friday in homes for low-income seniors. Currently, people aged 75 and over are eligible for the vaccine.
“We are doing reasonably well for this small population that is currently eligible for the vaccine,” said Ambrosino. “When eligibility starts to expand significantly in Phase 2, we will need some additional sites to meet the need, but at the moment I feel reasonably confident that we can handle more than 75.”
Chelsea’s ability to vaccinate its residents will be tested when the state opens eligibility for essential Phase 2 workers. According to an analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, 80 percent of Chelsea’s population is employed in occupations – such as construction , food preparation, transportation and building maintenance – which were considered essential in the midst of the pandemic.
But many in Chelsea believe that these workers are not being prioritized in Baker’s distribution plan, following his announcement last week that people aged 65 and over would be moved ahead of essential Phase 2 workers.
Blacks and Latinos in Massachusetts remain very under-vaccinated compared to white residents. On January 26, 43% of people who were fully vaccinated are white, according to the state Department of Public Health. Meanwhile, just under 4% of those receiving the two doses are Asian, more than 3% are Latino and less than 3% are black. State vaccination data on race and ethnicity is incomplete as a result of inconsistent reports from vaccinators, which is why these numbers do not add up to 100 percent.
Councilman Damali Vidot said Baker should have prioritized vaccinations in Chelsea.
“We need more careful leadership from above,” she said. Mass state vaccination at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough “is great for football games,” she continued, but “what about people who don’t have vehicles? What about less wealthy people? Don’t have Internet? Don’t know how to use a computer? We are thinking in a very privileged and classy way. COVID exposed inequalities. Governor Baker refused to see this. “
Matt Stout of the Globe team contributed to this story.
Deanna Pan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @DDpan. Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @StephanieEbbert.