PEABODY — As The Beatles once sang, sometimes, you get by with a little help from (your) friends.
Just ask Peabody Director of Health and Human Services Sharon Cameron.
This week, Cameron was preparing for the city’s 12th vaccine clinic, this one to administer second doses to about 105 residents, most of them congregate care and shelter residents and staff with a few health care workers and first responders sprinkled in.
When Cameron learned the week’s vaccine delivery was delayed due to adverse weather throughout much of the country, she reached out to the city of Lynn, asking if it could come to the rescue.
It did, sending Peabody 100 doses of the vaccine.
“Usually we get notified on Monday night that doses are being shipped out for overnight delivery. When we didn’t receive that notification we reached out to Lynn Board of Health on Tuesday to see if they would lend us doses for our Wednesday clinic,” Cameron said. “Thankfully, Lynn allowed us to borrow those doses, which will be returned to Lynn.”
The clinic was a success, with 105 people receiving second shots. Leftover doses were administered to elderly residents living at the Peabody Housing Authority. As of Friday, 1,197 people have been inoculated in Peabody.
Lynn Public Health Director Michele Desmarais said she was happy to be in a position to help out Peabody.
“During these difficult and challenging times, it is very important to me to help my fellow health director,” Desmarais said. “Fortunately, you have to register for appointments and we know ahead of time how many people will get the vaccine, so we knew that loaning Peabody 100 doses was not going to affect my responsibility to the residents of Lynn.”
Cameron said Thursday’s statewide coronavirus vaccine website crash had a ripple effect in Peabody.
“We got a lot of calls from people trying to book their second doses who were frustrated,” said Cameron. “Everyone has to use the same system so whatever brought the state system down even affected our small private clinics. Everyone wants to get vaccinated right away so I don’t think it was unexpected that there was a huge surge in demand.”
The city is focusing on its most vulnerable seniors.
“We recognize the needs of our more vulnerable seniors living in senior housing or low-income areas and have already met with the folks at the senior center and are surveying residents to learn their needs. That’s good news for us. We also expect guidance from the state on plans for homebound people.”
Cameron said she expects the city will host “a whole bunch of second-dose clinics in March,” and the city is putting every dose it receives into arms.
“Nobody in Peabody is throwing away any vaccine,” she said. “We might end up with five or six doses after everyone who registered has received their vaccines, but not a single dose is wasted. We call people who may be on a waiting list until we run out of vaccines.”
Mayor Ted Bettencourt has been pushing the state to send more vaccines to Peabody, but his efforts have been unsuccessful.
“I am extremely disappointed to learn that the state has denied our request for additional doses of COVID vaccine,” Bettencourt said in a Facebook post last Sunday. “We have the infrastructure, resources, knowledge, and experience to do more. Administering this life-saving vaccine as quickly as possible is our top priority. This is frustrating because Peabody has such a great vaccine team in place at the Torigian Senior Center.”
Cameron said the city normally receives 100 doses on average per week, the same number of doses that neighboring Lynnfield receives, despite the fact that Peabody’s population is more than four times larger.
“It’s not just the size of the community, it’s about the demographics,” said Cameron. “Peabody has more seniors, a more vulnerable population, but the state has not changed its strategy regarding distribution to communities.”
Cameron, however, is optimistic, saying she currently serves on a municipal vaccine working group headed by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Marylou Sudders, secretary of Health and Human Services.
“It’s a group of about 25 public health officials and mayors who are able to have input on the need for local involvement,” Cameron said. “We’ve been meeting on a weekly basis for about a month now. We know our communities, we know our most vulnerable residents and we feel we know our needs better. I believe that this group is helping the state recognize the important role that cities and towns play in working out the details of vaccine allocation.”
