When Gov. Charlie Baker thinks back to the start of the pandemic, he thinks about the Tuesday night phone call he had with other governors at 8 p.m.
It was those calls, he said, that made him especially grateful to be the governor of Massachusetts, with its extensive local medical resources such as the Broad Institute and Moderna.
“We just had access to so much knowledge, and in addition to that, people for the most part here were kind of decent to each other, they helped each other,” Baker said on Boston Public Radio last week.
When vaccines began rolling out in December 2020, the governor recalled that Massachusetts had an easier time than many other states. “We had volunteers from everywhere showing up to help us with this, and you talk to governors in other states who just couldn't get anybody to get vaccinated and many of them were just sick about it,” he said.
Massachusetts has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, with around 78% of residents having received two shots. The state saw volunteers pitching in through the vaccine rollout, from children in clinical trials to messengers spreading correct information about the vaccine when the shots were first being administered.
Still, the state has seen more than 23,500 deaths, including at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, which saw one of the country’s deadliest outbreaks in early 2020, and where leaders including Baker have faced criticism for the home’s management.
Thinking back to his conversations with fellow governors, Baker said he remains grateful for the people of Massachusetts.
“It's been a really difficult and at times extremely tragic couple of years, but I had a really legitimate window into how this was working and how people were feeling, what they were doing in places all over the country,” he said. “I'm really glad I was here."
