Free Virtual Community COVID-19 Town Halls Slated for April 20, 22, 28

SPRINGFIELD — The public is invited to participate in several free virtual community COVID-19 town halls presented by Baystate Health in conjunction with Focus Springfield.

The three informative town halls, including one presented in Spanish, will be held on April 20, 22, and 28 from 5 to 6 p.m.

Among the many topics to be discussed include how the vaccines work, differences between the vaccines, vaccine safety, what it feels like to be vaccinated, how well you will be protected, side effects, when you will be able to be vaccinated, how to sign up to be vaccinated, how the vaccine is being distributed in your community, concerns over fertility and pregnancy when getting the vaccine, and more.

The presentations include:

• Tuesday, April 20: “What You Need to Know About the COVID Vaccines,” presented in Spanish by Dr. Esteban DelPilar-Morales, internal medicine physician and infectious disease specialist at Baystate Health;

• Thursday, April 22: “What You Need to Know About the COVID Vaccines: Fertility and Pregnancy,” presented by Dr. Lauren Westafer, emergency medicine physician at Baystate Health, and Dr. Oscar Martinez, ob/gyn physician at Baystate Health; and

• Wednesday, April 28: “What You Need to Know About the COVID Vaccines,” presented by Dr. Durane Walker, internal medicine physician and infectious disease specialist at Baystate Health.

A Zoom participant Q&A will follow each presentation, with the community invited to submit questions in advance.

Participants can join the Zoom webinars at their scheduled times at focusspringfield.com/baystate-town-hall. Questions can be submitted by clicking here.

In addition to Zoom, participants can also join by watching public-access TV Channel 12, calling in by phone at (646) 558-8656 (use webinar ID 818 9424 0568), or streaming live through Facebook or YouTube (connecting links may be found at the scheduled times at focusspringfield.com/baystate-town-hall). Closed captioning is available, and all programs will be recorded and made available for on-demand viewing.