Community Chat: Covid Vaccinations in Amherst

Communications Director Brianna Sunryd and Town Manager Paul Bockelman welcomed guests Mary Beth Ogulewicz, Director of Senior Services, and Emma Dragon, Public Health Director, to Bockelman’s Community Chat on January 21. The full chat can be viewed here.

Ogulewicz announced that free tax service for seniors will again be available beginning February 1. Services will be provided at the Hadley Senior Center parking lot. Contact the Senior Center at 259-3060 for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Dragon noted that the Health Department has vaccinated 550 first responders at the Bangs Center in the past week. Her department is working on setting up a system for vaccinating the general public, beginning with seniors and teachers. Everyone will need to preregister, which can be made online through the Prepmod site or with assistance from the Senior Center when the vaccines are available. UMass is using a different platform for its employees and staff.

Seniors are due to receive the COVID vaccine in Phase 2 of the state program, estimated to begin in early February. Those in congregate living and assisted living programs have already been vaccinated in Phase 1, along with first responders. Seniors 75 years old and older are in Step 1 of Phase 2 and those 65 and older are in Step 2.

As soon as the vaccine is available, efforts will be made to contact all who are eligible. This will be done through the Town website, media sources such as the Daily Hampshire Gazette, the Senior Spirit newsletter, and automated phone calls. Seniors are encouraged to call 413-259-3038 and leave their name and phone number to register for a robocall when they can sign up for an appointment for the vaccine. The information will be made available in several languages through community partners.

A reliable source of information about vaccine availability and requirements is the state site: . It is updated every Tuesday and Thursday.

As to whether people should get their vaccines through their physician, a pharmacy, or the Town, it depends where one is comfortable and if it is important to get the vaccine as soon as possible. If expediency is the priority, they should get it at the first place available. The vaccines are the same and all will be given without charge. A plan is being developed for those citizens who are homebound.

Bockelman noted that UMass is closing its community testing site at the Mullins Center for next week in order to test all incoming students. Students are required to be tested when they arrive on campus and then again after four days of quarantining. The community testing site will reopen on February 2.

Ogulewicz drew attention to a statewide program, #Reachout.ma, that encourages residents to reach out to a senior citizen whom they know to check in regularly and to offer rides or other services that might be needed, as well as letting them know when they are eligible to be vaccinated. She noted that there are 5,173 Amherst residents over the age of 60.

Both Ogulewicz and Bockelman praised the recent vaccination effort for first responders, noting that EMTs, school nurses, and Health Department members all participated in giving the vaccinations. The COVID 19 ambassadors also helped by providing information.

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