Starting Thursday, those aged 65 and over and those with at least one comorbidy will be allowed to sign up for a vaccine appointment in Massachusetts.
But over at the Bedford VA, that's old hat.
The multi-town health system has been vaccinating veterans aged 50 and over for the last few weeks.
Bedford VA Nurse Sandra Getchell is leading the system's vaccination center. She says while many veterans were excited to get the vaccine, others were hesitant.
"There's a lot of people out that have a lot of questions as far as safety goes, because it came out very quickly. That makes a lot of people nervous," Getchell said. "Once I explain to them what we're seeing for side effects and what the future holds with more people vaccinated, they're getting on board very quickly."
Joseph Brown is one of the veterans living at the Bedford VA that wasn't initially on board with the vaccine, despite having a mild case of the coronavirus last year.
"At first I said put me down for six months," Brown said. "But then after a little while I said, no, this is ridiculous. I was satisfied, because I was watching all of the other veterans, and they weren't having any problems with the vaccine ... so I said let me go for it. That's the only way we're going to beat this."
We also heard from Jessie Magyar, the School and Family Programs Manager at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. The ICA has been working to reach families in new ways during the pandemic, including distributing food and art kits to residents.
Click on the audio player above to listen to the full episode.
Segments:
Joan Clifford, Sandra Getchell and Joseph Brown - 2:37
Jessie Magyar - 18:58
