Page 4 - HealthcareNews Jan_Feb 2021

Arms B
Race
By JOSEPH BEDNAR
ack in December, the news was all good. COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna earned emergency-use approval, and shipments rolled out to all 50 states, which then began distributing them to the first priority group:
frontline healthcare workers.
Vaccinating
Hamel not only gave her co-workers shots, she wrote messages on their arms to mark the moment when vaccines finally arrived in Northampton.
On the arm of registered nurse Nick Hebert, a Marine Corps veteran who works in the Respiratory Illness Clinic, the Band-Aid that partially obscured a tattoo of the globe read, “for the world.”
Massachusetts Is a Thorny,
“This vaccine is important for public safety,” Hebert said. “I feel I am helping the rest of the community by getting vaccinated.”
Complicated Challenge
The other challenge, healthcare professionals say, is helping people who may be reluc- tant to understand the benefits of vaccines. Those two challenges may seem contradicto- ry at a time when it’s tough for even enthusiastic people to access the vaccine, but they’re really not — because the rollout is expected to last several more months, and every point along that journey matters when it comes to building herd immunity in Massachusetts.
“We recognize it’s a journey, and folks might not feel comfortable with it today, but
“This vaccine makes me feel excited,” Amy Hamel, Emergency Department nurse case manager at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, said back then. “Relief is in sight — for primary- care offices, for nursing homes, for daughters taking care of elderly mothers.”
That remains true, of course, but as the weeks have rolled on, a pair of competing challenges have arisen. One is making sure everyone who wants a vaccine — and is authorized to do so by the state’s phased priority list (more on that later) — gets one, a process that has been riddled with long waits at mass-vaccination sites, difficulty secur- ing appointments at smaller sites, and confusion when navigating the online registration process.
JGS Lifecare staff line up for COVID-19 vac- cinations last month.
4 WWW.HEALTHCARENEWS.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021