The protest letters come from public health leaders in some of the state’s most densely populated regions, including Boston, Springfield, Merrimack Valley, the Metro West area and Plymouth County. The state health department is required to seek and include local letters in its CDC emergency preparedness financing request.
“The Commonwealth continues to operate under a restricted federal supply and has 170 public vaccine locations across the state, including several local health councils that support several of our most affected communities and receive vaccines every week,” a spokeswoman for the COVID-19’s State Command Response Command said in a statement. “Local Health Councils partner with the state to develop plans for vaccinating residents who are stranded at home, live in low-income or accessible elderly homes and populations that are more difficult to reach and will continue to be a critical part of the response to the pandemic.
After a slow start, Massachusetts rose through the state ranking of vaccines, with more than 2.3 million total doses administered on Wednesday, according to the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker. Massachusetts ranked 9th across the country in total administered doses, based on population.
The application of the state for the CDC seeks $ 13 million in federal funding, and local health leaders say their letters detailing the significant problems in responding to the Massachusetts pandemic are not intended to undermine funding. Nor is the protest likely to do so, they said. Their letters with well-defined words, they said, are to highlight the flaws and plead with the state to move forward in a way that best serves communities, especially those hardest hit by the virus.
“There seems to be a complete disconnect from the well-known and established plans that communities have built since 2001,” says the letter from Jeffrey Stephens, Westford’s health director, who also heads the Upper Merrimack Valley Public Health Coalition.
After the terrorist attacks in September 2001, Massachusetts spent millions of dollars planning how it would mobilize its vast network of local public health departments to respond in an emergency, including the creation and administration of mass vaccination sites. Many of the letters say the state dismissed that plan during the pandemic.
“We feel that developing plans seems almost useless for future responses,” said Stephens’ letter. “Failure to use and cancel current plans has damaged relationships in our region and contributed to the deterioration of residents’ confidence in Public Health.”
The widespread disapproval of the state’s local health coalitions is unusual. The last time was in 2006, when many felt there was a lack of communication between Governor Mitt Romney’s health department and local health leaders.
Disjointed communication was mentioned in several letters.
“Local health councils were left out of state planning and instead faced the reaction to guidance as it came from the state, which was often different from the plans we built together,” said Stacey Kokaram, director of Boston Public Public Health Preparedness Office of the Health Commission, in its letter.
In late December, local health leaders were rushing to set up vaccine clinics for first aid after the state health department gave them only about two weeks to secure ultra-cold storage units for vaccines, as well as finding suitable protective equipment and staff to administer the vaccines. But at the same time, the Baker administration was quietly setting up private-run mass vaccination centers at Gillette Stadium, Fenway Park and other major venues, while moving away from local clinics.
Local health leaders scolded the state for lack of communication during the pandemic, which generated widespread confusion in communities.
In one instance in the fall, the COVID Command Center abruptly changed the way it measured the number of COVID-19 infections, which determines the risk levels in the communities and affects the closing of deals and more.
The move directly contradicts company closure decisions and other guidelines for residents that many public health departments had issued on the same day, said local health leaders.
Shortly thereafter, the command center relaxed the quarantine rules, again without warning to local health departments. Public health nurses were on the phone ordering residents to quarantine and explain the rules at the same time the governor was on television presenting different rules, local leaders said.
The state’s indifference to local experience, as well as poor and sporadic communications “has resulted in confusion and frustration between us and the communities we represent,” said Christopher Goshea in his letter from the Hampden County Health Coalition, which includes Springfield and Holyoke.
“We are open to careful discussions, so that this critical work can continue and be relevant to the responses of the future,” he said.
Kay Lazar can be reached at [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKayLazar.