'A Matter Of Our Health': Some Mass. Municipal Leaders Vow To Get COVID Vaccine To Set An Example

With the Baker administration poised to reveal more details about the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine in Massachusetts, local leaders are considering how to cultivate confidence among skeptical constituents.

Public confidence has already been identified as a barrier as the time for scheduling and administering vaccines draws near.

Nearly 40 percent of the 415 adults in Massachusetts say they would be very or somewhat unlikely to get the vaccine were it available today, according to a recent poll from the Western New England University Polling Institute.

Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu is one of the local officials who said she’ll take the vaccine in an effort to encourage residents to do likewise.

“This is a matter of our health as individuals being entirely dependent on everyone else’s health and well-being,” she said in a phone interview with GBH News.

Wu, a mayoral candidate, pointed to the multi-generational make up of her home as a motivating factor.

“My mom who is older lives with kids who, hopefully, at some point will be going back to school and out and about and so it’s really important to guarantee the safety of my household and my community by getting the vaccine as soon as it’s publicly available and sharing the experience,” she said.

Brockton Mayor Robert F. Sullivan, who lives in one of the state’s COVID hotspots, vowed that he would also take the vaccine “out an abundance of caution” to try to protect his family.

“Right now, as the mayor of Brockton and as a life-long Brocktonian, the saddest part of my job is getting the daily death count and the daily sick count,” he said.

Sullivan said the city plans to use Brockton High School as a distribution site once the vaccine is ready for public administration.

“I know there’ll be some apprehension by people … but I think at the end of the day we’ll get the communication out,” he said, pointing to the area’s multicultural makeup and the need for multilingual public announcements.

Mayors Kim Driscoll of Salem and Joseph Curtatone of Somerville both said they’d be willing to take the vaccine and share on social media images of themselves doing so.

“If we’re taking the vaccine, if we’re in a position where it’s gone through the number of approvals that are necessary and it’s now being widely distributed, then that means that it’s safe, it’s effective and it’s something that’s going to help our overall community,” Driscoll told GBH News. “If it’s something that gives somebody else confidence to do it, that’s a really small step.”

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has not responded to GBH News requests for comment, but Marty Martinez, the city’s chief of health and human services, said the city is planning a public awareness campaign to help encourage those who remain skeptical of the vaccine.

Nationally, former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton last week indicated they would publicly take the coronavirus vaccine as a way to bolster public confidence.

The vows for public vaccinations to cultivate public confidence comes as trust in the vaccine is growing across the country.

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 60 percent of Americans would definitely or probably get a vaccine for the coronavirus if it were available — up nine percentage points from September.

The poll also found Black Americans are still less willing to get vaccinated than other racial and ethnic groups. Forty-two percent indicated willingness — less than English-speaking Asian Americans (83 percent), Hispanics (63 percent) and white adults (61 percent).

That skepticism was reflected in the comments of Boston City Council President Kim Janey, fellow Councilor Andrea Campbell and Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer — Black women who each cited the history of medical racism and a need for more information before committing to taking the preventive measure.

“I’m thinking about it, but I too am part of that community that has questions and concerns and wants to make sure that this will be safe," said Janey, pointing to a desire for more information about the number of minorities involved in the vaccine trials.

Janey said one of the first steps government and medical institutions can take to bolster public confidence is acknowledge the historic medical racism that has made communities of color wary.

"We cannot sweep that under the rug and think people are just going to roll up their sleeves and take this vaccine," she said, pointing to the infamous Tuskegee experiment and the exploitation of Henrietta Lacks’ cells.

Campbell, another Boston mayoral candidate, has called for a council hearing to address both equitable vaccine distribution and distrust in the vaccine. She is waiting to see more data before committing to taking it.

"I think, as leaders, we have a responsibility to lead. And sometimes you have to do things publicly to get rid of any stigma, but I also have concerns with respect to the vaccine," said Campbell.

Spicer said Monday she would wait to hear from respected medical officials, naming Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Paul Biddinger, director of disaster medicine at Mass General Hospital; and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, a local infectious disease specialist at MGH who is expected to be tapped to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Biden administration.

“These are folks that I have been in meetings with and listened to them and if I got a sense of security that this was a greenlight from them, yes. Then, I probably would take it,” the Framingham mayor said, adding that the upcoming White House transition gives her an optimistic view.

President-elect Joe Biden has said he’d be willing to take the treatment publicly but he would not support a vaccine mandate.

Only one local official who GBH News interviewed said outright she will not take it upon herself to try to sway constituents on whether to get inoculated.

Chelsea City Councilor Dimali Vidot pointed to her own struggles with sarcoidosis, an inflammatory auto-immune disease that commonly impacts the lungs. She said she could not, in good faith, lead her constituents towards something she has her own reservations about.

“I don’t want to be irresponsible, when I’m a representative in the community that was hardest hit, but I also have to be honest about what my values are,” Vidot said.

“There are people that have been working on vaccines for years, and they’ve managed to come up with this one in such a short amount of time,” she said, pointing to the Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” to drastically shorten the period usually required to obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Asked if she’d be among the first to take the vaccine publicly when available, Vidot responded: “Hell no, that will not be me and you can quote me in saying, ‘Hell no.’”