Charlie Baker, Kim Janey say Massachusetts vaccine sites need to follow rules

Acting Mayor Kim Janey and Gov. Charlie Baker both said local vaccine providers need to stick with the state’s coronavirus vaccine rules after a Dorchester partnership briefly opened up access to all neighborhood residents — whether they currently qualified or not.

Janey distanced herself from the decisions made by Boston Medical Center and Codman Square Health Center earlier this week, saying the city has nothing to do with the choice the organizations made to make shots available on a walk-in basis to people 18 and up.

“We need to ensure that everyone in Boston is vaccinated, but we also need to follow the public health guidelines from the state when it comes to eligibility and making sure that those communities that are hardest hit are getting the vaccine,” Janey said in a press conference when asked about the matter.

The two organizations’ clinic in the Dorchester Center-Franklin Field area — which has been a much-used testing and now vaccine site as the city looks to expand access to vaccines — created a buzz and drew a line down the street Monday as it unilaterally opened shots up to everyone, a step that won’t actually come in Massachusetts until April 19.

Baker on Tuesday said “people have been talked to” about the matter, which he said appears to be an “honest mistake.”

Baker called Boston Medical Center a “champion” for partnering with community health centers to do outreach into communities of color that have been most disproportionately affected by the virus.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3cSPLKG