COVID-19 vaccination rates in Tufts University’s surrounding Medford and Somerville communities have plateaued recently, despite remaining high compared to others in the state. As of Nov. 11, 79% of Medford residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, compared with 77% as of Oct. 28. In Somerville, 85% of residents have received at least one dose, compared with 82% in October. Only Somerville remains above the state’s single-dose vaccination rate of 83%.
Gabriela Andujar Vazquez, infectious disease physician at Tufts Medical School, said that vaccination rates, which increased substantially last spring, have started to level off. She did note an increase around the time when many institutions began mandating vaccines.
“Probably the word is ‘plateaued,’” Andujar Vazquez said. “The biggest peak point was around spring back in April and May, where we had daily high vaccination rates and that sort of plateaued. Then, in the summer with a lot of efforts to try to get communities where there was more hesitancy — Hispanic, Black communities, communities with people of color — it did increase … Now it's sort of stayed in the sort of steady but not increasing numbers.”
Somerville vaccination rates
Doug Kress, director of health and human services for the City of Somerville, said that Somerville continues to see an uptick in its vaccination rates.
“There are a variety of things that Somerville has done [to encourage vaccination],” Kress said. “I also want to point out that we also have a great partner with Cambridge Health Alliance because we have a vaccination center that's located here in Somerville, we're lucky enough to be able to identify that so it makes it a little bit easier for some people to get to that whether that is their first, second or both doses of the vaccine.”
Kress stressed that current data on vaccination rates is out of the total population of the city, not just those who are eligible for vaccination. Therefore, he is expecting to see Somerville’s vaccination rate rise as the vaccine becomes available for the 5–11-year-old age group.
“We do anticipate seeing this rise whenever the CDC does provide us with additional information about when we're able to vaccinate that [5–11-year-old range] as well,” Kress said on Oct. 26. “We do anticipate to see another bump up with our vaccination rates as well.”
The Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine was authorized for emergency use in children between five and 11years of age on Oct. 29.
Lower vaccination rates among Black, Hispanic residents
Jamila Xible, director of health education and access at Cambridge Health Alliance, said that Cambridge and Somerville, both middle-class communities with lots of college students and access to information, are in a good place in terms of vaccination rates. Racial disparities in vaccination rates, however, still exist in these communities.
“There are still disparities,” Xible said. “So for Somerville, for example, the Hispanic community has the lowest rate of vaccination.”
In both Medford and Somerville, multiracial and white people have the highest vaccination rates, while Black and Hispanic communities have lower vaccination rates.
CHA has been working to reduce the barriers to vaccination for communities who still lack access.
“They are at the pharmacies, but there's one big barrier," Xible said. "You need to figure out how to fill out those forms [with] various language barriers. You need to have your health insurance handy.”
Xible described how CHA is helping to make the vaccines more accessible.
“For us at CHA we are trying to work and knock down those barriers by, one, bringing vaccines where people are in times that are convenient to them and help[ing] them with the whole process,” Xible said. “You don't need to prepare, just come to us and we will speak your language.”
Xible said that, following a successful summer campaign of vaccination clinics via church partnerships, CHA is changing its strategy to steady clinics, including its large vaccination center in Somerville. CHA also has mobile clinics in many city halls, at its clinic in Malden and at Revere High School.
Kress said that providing information about vaccines and vaccination clinics in multiple languages — English, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole — has been a priority for Somerville.
“We also work with SOIA, which is our Somerville Office of Immigrant Affairs,” he said. “They've been a partner in this and we actually put a really strong effort into making sure that we're getting information out both about the vaccine but also about COVID-19 in the prevention areas that we have available out there for our residents.”
Other steps that the City of Somerville has taken to increase equity in vaccination include community clinics at senior housing facilities, churches and other faith-based organizations.Kresssaid that when compared to other towns in the area, Somerville has had high turnout at recent vaccination clinics.
“I often meet with other health directors on a variety of things, and when I tell them, ‘We've had 60 people show up for our clinic,’ they're like, ‘What? We're lucky if we get 10,” Kress said. “I’m getting the 60 people because we continue to push and we continue to get out the information.”
Andujar Vazquez, who has spoken to hundreds of individuals about their concerns regarding vaccination, said that, at this point, misinformation is the major hurdle to vaccination for many people. While many steps have been taken to make the vaccine itself accessible, Andujar Vazquez said that correct information about vaccination is less accessible.
“There's still a lot of information out there that is erroneous and confusing to patients,” she said. “The vaccine is accessible to people, but they may not have the opportunity to actually talk to a clinician about it … If you don't see a primary care doctor or you don't have anyone to talk about that [with] in the medical field, they won't necessarily know who to ask.”
Even with a high vaccination rate in the City of Somerville, Kress emphasized the importance of considering surrounding communities’ infection and vaccination rates.
“I think we’re on the pathway; I don’t think we’re there yet,” Kress said. “You cannot just say Somerville alone because I know where the borders are. I still travel beyond those borders. Maybe that’s to go to the grocery store, maybe that’s to visit family [or] to do a variety of other things.”
Primary series shots remain important going forward
Despite the recent availability of booster shots and theFDA’s decision to allow the mix-and-match of vaccines, Andujar Vazquez said that ensuring everyone receives their first two COVID-19 vaccines must still be the priority.
“We need to increase that number because then everything that we offer other age groups and vulnerable populations will be made,” she said. “We have to immunize more people primarily with the primary series. That’s number one.”
Xible agreed, adding that despite the attention being given to the 5–11 age group, primary series vaccinations and booster shots for frontline workers should be the focus of current vaccine efforts.
“We definitely need to pay attention to the boosters because there are so many frontline workers that are at a higher risk of contracting COVID, and we want to make sure that they are protected, many of them, lower income, many of them immigrants, and we do want to make sure that they know that they have that additional resource there,” she said. “I know that we are being pushed to pay more attention to the five to 11, but I think we need to continue offering to everyone.”
Kress said that, for the time being, flu clinics are being prioritized in Somerville. Once flu season has progressed and the city receives more guidance from the state, COVID-19 booster shots and 5–11-year-olds will be the focus.
Xible said that it is important to maintain hope and keep up current levels of outreach to increase vaccination rates and reduce vaccine disparities.
“It's sad to see that these disparities are so difficult to address," she said. "It's sad to see that a lot of the most vulnerable in our communities, you know, they still don't trust that the vaccines will help them … We need to continue this outreach and engagement that we’ve been doing.”
