People who live and work in homeless shelters in Massachusetts have started to get the coronavirus vaccine.
Lydia Downie, president and executive director of Boston's Pine Street Inn, says they've vaccinated close to 100 residents and staff members with hopes of vaccinating more as doses come in.
A survey of staff and residents showed that 50% wanted to get vaccinated. To help increase buyin, the Inn created an internal vaccine task force. It also recruited the people who first received the shot to become "vaccine ambassadors" who help answer questions and dispel rumors.
But she says there's more to do.
"There are still people who have questions about the side effects, questions about vaccine versus getting COVID, for example," Downie said. "We did not have as high of a rate of women signing up from the women's shelter so we're concerned about that. We do have a higher instance of mental illness among the women, and we know for some women this is going to feel intrusive and invasive. I think absolutely we got some work to do there."
We also heard from Ann Becker, the public health director for UMass Amherst, and Isabella Caruso, a second year masters of public health candidate, also at UMass Amherst. Both work at UMass Amherst's Public Health Promotion Center, which operates the university's surveillance testing and contact tracing operation.
Click on the audio player above to listen to the full episode.
Segments:
Lyndia Downie - 1:43
Ann Becker and Isabella Caruso - 15:30
