Authorities said many soldiers received the vaccine in locations outside the department.
More than 800 Massachusetts State Police officials refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, despite being in the first priority dose stage, police sources said.
A total of 845 MSP members, including sworn officials and civilian officials, refused to receive the vaccine at state police clinics. This represents about 30% of civilian and sworn officers in the force.
Meanwhile, 2,002 department members, sworn and civilian officials, received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine at the department’s clinics, MSP officials told ABC News.
According to the Boston Globe, vaccine hesitation is a problem in the state. A report from the state Department of Corrections last week showed that more than half of its employees turned down the state’s offer to get the vaccine at work. State prison officials told the newspaper last month that the number of people who refused the vaccine includes workers who were shot outside.
Nancy Sterling, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts State Police Association, which represents the department’s 2,200 soldiers and sergeants, said she saw no fear or hesitation among members about receiving the vaccine.
“We didn’t see that, but again there is no official mechanism for anyone to share this with us,” Sterling told ABC News. “If members asked, we suggest that they talk to their health care provider.”
The authorities also emphasized that the vaccine gap is not necessarily due to a lack of confidence in vaccines.
“The fact that members did not receive the vaccine at the MSP clinics does not mean that they refused the vaccine, it means that they did not receive the vaccine during the MSP clinics,” Dave Procopio, MSP’s director of media communications, told ABC News. .
Sterling said that many police officers received the vaccine in other locations, instead of those indicated by the police. The union did not order the police to receive the vaccine and claimed it would be an invasion of privacy to ask members if they received the vaccine dosage.
In Massachusetts, the first respondents were given priority to receive the vaccine starting January 11, and the state created three vaccination sites for state troops and other first responders.
On Monday, nearly 1 million people were fully vaccinated in Massachusetts, according to the Department of Public Health’s latest COVID-19 vaccine data report.