Opinion: Strategies for increasing vaccination equity

By Tami Gouveia, Alan Geller, Lloyd Fisher, and David Gao

By many accounts, Massachusetts stands out as one of the top five states in fully vaccinating its citizens. To date, 4.1 M residents are fully vaccinated and an additional 542,000 are awaiting second shots. However, a deeper dive into this data reveals stark disparities in vaccination rates.

Overcoming the myriad barriers to getting shots into residents’ arms will have a profound public health impact. Now is the time to set a lofty but practical goal. Fully vaccinating more than 5 million Massachusetts residents (75% of our citizenry) is doable and the state can reach this critical goal well before all of our youngest children may become eligible for the vaccine that is expected to occur sometime in the Fall. …