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Date: 6/29/2021
WEST SPRINGFIELD – After administering the COVID-19 vaccine from mid-April until the end of June, the vaccination site at The Big E has officially closed.
West Springfield Chief of Operations Carly Camossi explained that opening the site was far from easy.
“We had to fight with state approval,” she said. In order to obtain approval, the town of West Springfield had to show a need for the vaccine, with a certain number of people wishing to receive one.
The state ideally wanted this site to administer about 750 vaccines per day, for every day open.
Camossi said, “We outfitted our program to fit that.” In return, the state only sent out 1,500 a week – nowhere near 750 per day.
However, once the vaccination clinic opened, Camossi said they were at full capacity for about three weeks. As time went on, the numbers began to drop as other vaccination sites opened.
Nonetheless, she said, “Our area was accessible … We filled the appointments we had.” Anyone who wanted the vaccine was able to receive one, she noted.
The clinic was open to all residents in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In order to register, people had to do so on the state’s website. If Connecticut residents worked in West Springfield, they were also eligible to sign up for this vaccination site.
Camossi explained that the way the vaccine travels is from the federal to the state, then the state to vaccination sites. Federal programs encompass places such as CVS, and hospitals including Baystate and Mercy. The state gave less to local public health, as there are more public health than vaccines.
Camossi said they were receiving a more “secure shipment.”
The Big E vaccination site offered all three COVID-19 vaccines – Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson. Everyone was able to receive Moderna. When eligibility opened for some children to receive the vaccine, Camossi said only Pfizer was to be administered to them. For Johnson & Johnson, people could request this dose if they chose to. All vaccines were administered by local paramedics.
Camossi said now it’s a mindset that people either have the vaccine or they don’t, either because they can’t get it or choose not to.
Jeanne Galloway, director of Public Health in West Springfield, agreed. “We closed due to the decreased interest in getting the vaccine and the ongoing costs to keep it running. Many other regional vaccine sites in Western Mass were experiencing the same issues. In addition, the volume of doses required to be ordered at any one time far exceeded the expected number of participants in the time period required for use of the vaccine.”
She went on to say, “Anyone getting a vaccine is good but overall we expected and planned for a whole lot more people.”
As of press time, Hampden County has the lowest vaccination rate in the commonwealth with 47.1 percent of people being fully vaccinated – a couple percentage points behind Bristol County.
Galloway said, “West Springfield’s rate is just below 50 percent and slowly rising.”
For additional information on vaccination sites and vaccination numbers, visit the Massachusetts website at www.mass.gov.