Should high-risk Massachusetts communities receive vaccine first?

BOSTON — Should residents in some of the Bay State’s hardest hit cities and towns be vaccinated first?

Some experts believe communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic should be moved to the front of the line.

Massachusetts has pledged to set aside 20 percent of its vaccine supply for vulnerable cities and towns with high infection rates.

The timeline on when that will be happening and exactly which communities will be getting extra doses remains unclear.

“Strategies that target areas where the virus has hit really hard will protect everyone in a fairly effective way,” said Jessica Leibler, an environmental epidemiologist with Boston University.

Leibler said targeting communities at high risk would come in the second phase of the vaccine.

She points out that it could cause in could mean other people at risk may not get the vaccine as quickly as they would otherwise. However, she believes the strategy will help protect others who live in lower-risk communities.

“The virus doesn’t limit itself to those specific neighborhoods or cities,” said Leibler. “This could help identify communities where there’s a large percentage of workers who are in these essential jobs who have not been able to socially distance.”

The strategy could potentially apply in certain neighborhoods of Boston and also in communities like Lawrence, Chelsea, Brockton, Revere and Lynn.

“We’re hoping from an equity standpoint that Lynn and other communities throughout the Commonwealth who have similar case positivity rates will be high up on the list,” said Geoffrey Pechinsky, Chief Medical Officer at the Lynn Community Health Center.

Pechinsky said the positivity rate at Lynn Community Health Center is about 20 percent. According to Pechinsky, about one in five people who are asymptomatic are testing positive for the virus.

He points out that essential workers, immigrants and people of color make up the majority of Lynn’s population.

“Even if there’s a pending test or positive test, there’s a tough call to make if you’re an essential worker,” explained Pechinsky. “It’s also been challenging for people to isolate. There’s stories of people quarantining in closets because there’s 10 other people in the house or apartment.”

Rhode Island’s health director just announced this week that some of its highly dense zip codes will be prioritized for vaccination.

That includes Central Falls, R.I., a small work-class community with mostly Latino residents. Health officials project that half of the population in Central Falls will have been infected with COVID-19 by the end of the year.

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