The following is a statement released from Town Manager Robert LeLacheur, Jr.
Thank you for your efforts in assisting our friends and neighbors since I last wrote over a week ago. Although we do not have detailed Reading-specific information, last night Governor Baker noted that about 200,000 of the 430,000 75+-year-olds in the state have been vaccinated in recent weeks, mostly at the larger state-run sites. This is good progress.
Thank you for your efforts in assisting our friends and neighbors since I last wrote over a week ago. Although we do not have detailed Reading-specific information, last night Governor Baker noted that about 200,000 of the 430,000 75+-year-olds in the state have been vaccinated in recent weeks, mostly at the larger state-run sites. This is good progress.
Vaccine supplies are still tight. Lieutenant Governor Polito today revealed that the state is receiving only 103,400 doses per week to spread around to the larger state sites and to cities and towns. We are still in a queue to receive 100 doses/week, although some towns have reported supply cancellations this week.
After careful thought, we are going to move ahead amidst the uncertainty and offer local vaccination clinics here in Reading. We know our community the best, and as I mentioned in the last update, we are well prepared to help you – if we only had vaccine! Yesterday the state announced a new set of guidelines before cities and towns are able to order vaccine. Some communities needed to reschedule planned clinics; we prefer to have vaccine in hand before we schedule specific dates.
Our strong preference is to run larger scale clinics at the Reading Memorial Field House on Fridays, and we will continue to advocate loudly for vaccination supply that will allow this option. In the meanwhile, we are prepared to run small 100-dose weekly Friday clinics at the Pleasant Street Center. Please check our website www.readingma.gov as well as our social media sites for updates. Since right now our most realistic hope is these small weekly clinics, we urge you all to continue to reach out and help each other and seek out the state resources where vaccine supplies are more plentiful.
Once we have a sense that weekly clinics can be done reliably, we will use a Code Red blast to all of our residents with landlines or otherwise who have signed up to receive such updates (please see https://www.readingma.gov/home/pages/codered-registration for more information).
A round of applause to Arlington resident and software engineer Olivia Adams for creating a new website www.macovidvaccines.com to make the vaccine signup process a bit easier! Resources we shared before include a useful map that combines state and private locations, but not all are available to Reading residents: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-vaccination-locations-for-individuals-in-eligible-groups-and-phases. Another useful state resource is https://www.maimmunizations.org. The state has also launched a helpful call center (dial ‘211’) to answer your questions and provide some assistance. Right now, this call center is staffed Monday through Friday 8:30am-5:00pm.
An important request from our Board of Health – in recent weeks we have seen a slowdown in your responses back to us when you are asked about close contacts you may have had with someone reported as testing positive. While it’s great to see the anticipated post-holiday slowdown in virus spread, and hopeful that the vaccinations will pull us through, contact tracing is still a very important tool to keep us all as safe as possible. Please take a few minutes to return the call if you are contacted.
Reading has had many challenges in her nearly 400 years, with many things to be proud of and some to regret. Each action you take – calling an elderly neighbor, giving your contact information to their relatives that live far away, returning a contact tracing call, and so on – may seem small and almost trivial when compared to the daily pandemic grind that at times now overwhelms us all. History will judge our community by the outpouring of these small steps, and how they added up to show we are a caring community. Please be well and stay safe.
