Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 5/10/2021
HOLYOKE – In a bid to increase equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine in communities of need, a traveling vaccine bus is visiting two Western Massachusetts cities.
The Mobile Vax bus, which is part of an effort of the Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to reach under-served communities, partnered with Holyoke Health to host the bus in both Holyoke and Chicopee. Senior Vice President of Tufts Harvard Pilgrim Adam Scott said that the bus was born out of their mission to “improve the health and wellbeing of those in diverse communities.”
He said such communities, specifically Black and brown communities with non-English speaking populations, often experienced “access issues” with regard to the vaccines. Scott said while they were thinking of ways they could help increase accessibility in such neighborhoods they initially discussed driving people to mass vaccinations sites. However, he said people in those communities said, “We need the vaccine to come to us.” From there the bus was stripped of its seats and retrofitted with vaccine stations for nurses to administer shots.
Scott said the partnership with Holyoke Health provided the bus with the nurses along with the vaccine doses for the event, but also created jobs within the community. He said that the creation of 100 jobs including those who marketed the event, canvassed to get the word out and used other forms of media such as Facebook Live events and radio shows to ensure that residents knew about the vaccine bus.
He said the company was doing similar work in the eastern part of the state with a second bus and it was “all about shots in arms.” He said, “It takes a village. It’s about closing health disparities. The beauty of having this come is you only have to spend 30 minutes.”
He continued, “They don’t have to worry about traveling four towns over, it eliminates accessibility needs.”
The bus, which was parked at Holyoke’s Veteran’s Memorial Park on May 7 and May 8, will travel to Chicopee to administer vaccines to residents during the week of May 10. The mayors of both communities were present during the May 7 vaccine event, where music was playing and people lined up outside the bus to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Acting Holyoke Mayor Terrance Murphy told Reminder Publishing the neighborhood residents where the bus was parked were the “people we want to reach.” He said he’d spoken to several residents who shared their reason for getting the vaccination was to protect loved ones such as their parents, coworkers, friends and others. “We got to take care of each other,” he said.
He added that some benefits of the bus were that it was entirely free even for those who may not have insurance, there were Spanish speakers to accommodate to the non-English speaking population and the bus would return in four weeks to administer the second dose of the shot.
Murphy then went on to challenge businesses to provide opportunities and encourage their employees to receive the vaccination. “It’s in your best interest, it’s a good financial investment,” he said. He added that ways in which employers could invest in the health of their employees was not requiring them to use sick or personal time to receive the vaccine, providing time and flexibility for the employee scheduling an appointment, and allowing them to take paid time from work to go and get their vaccine.
He added that Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care said they were willing to host additional vaccine bus events and he would be working with them to provide as much vaccine access to residents as possible.
State Rep. Pat Duffy, who also was in attendance at the event, called the bus the “vaccine equity bus.” She said she believed there would be a “rolling response” to people getting vaccinated. Duffy said she believed the more people became vaccinated then more people who had hesitations about the shot would see the benefits and ease of the experience, making them more likely to get the vaccine themselves.
Both Duffy and Murphy said they “would love to see Holyoke be 90 percent vaccinated” and encouraged people to continue to get vaccinated and do their part. “It only takes an hour of your time to protect yourself, your loved ones,” Murphy said.
In statements to the community, Murphy said, “We’re doing this for the right reasons, we’re doing it for each other.”
Chicopee Mayor John Vieau also gave remarks and said the communities would continue to work collaboratively for the benefit of residents. He, like Murphy and Duffy, encouraged residents to get the vaccine, which he said was a “safe vaccine.”
“It’s about community, Western Mass. working together, bringing communities together, more accessibilities. We’re doing the right thing,” he said. “We’re getting the vaccine to people that can’t get to the vaccine sites. We’re bringing it to you.”