LYNN — Swampscott Housing Authority residents and seniors received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at Lynn’s Breed Middle School on Thursday morning.
Irma Chez, SHA executive director, said they had struggled to find a place to hold the clinic in town, which lacked a space that was large enough. Meanwhile, Swampscott ran out of vaccine supply, so she reached out to colleagues in Lynn. Within a week, she said, the clinic had been scheduled.
“It was really the work of many people coming together,” Chez said, citing state Sen. Brendan Crighton, Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development Executive Director Charles Gaeta and Lynn Public Health Director Michele Desmarais as important partners in setting it up. “They could’ve said, we don’t even have enough for our own citizens here, but that was not the case.”
Chez also worked with the Swampscott Senior Center to provide transportation to the clinic, and was even able to provide some spots for seniors when a handful of SHA residents found appointments elsewhere.
Christine Dixon, a 66-year-old SHA resident who received her first shot at the clinic, took the senior center bus to Lynn for the clinic. She said that she was shocked at how smoothly the process went.
“We got dropped off, and 10 minutes later, I had my shot,” Dixon said. “I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get my shot, and thought I would have to take my chances, but then [Chez] came along.”
Dixon said she knew some people who were nervous to get their shot, but now that she had seen how easy it was, she hoped to be able to talk them into it.
Robert Benson, who also received his first dose, said he was very happy to have the opportunity for the vaccination.
“How do you spell relief? Getting vaccinated,” Benson joked.
Chez also received her first dose of the vaccine at the clinic, and said she was very happy to be joining her residents. She relayed the story of one resident who told her that she had been one of the first children to receive the polio vaccine, and was now one of the first to be inoculated against the coronavirus.
Between administering shots and making sure the clinic ran smoothly, MJ Duffy-Alexander, public health nurse in Lynn, said that she was happy the two towns were able to work together to get more people vaccinated.
“Every shot we get in someone’s arm gets us a little closer to normal,” she said.
