Vaccine Awareness a Priority in Hard Hit Lynn

LYNN — The Baker-Polito administration has launched a targeted outreach initiative to increase vaccine awareness and access to historically underserved communities. The initiative will invest resources directly into the 20 most disproportionately impacted towns and cities in the state, including Lynn, and $1 million into the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. The funds provided to community health centers will increase vaccine confidence and knowledge throughout the community, implement distribution of culturally relevant and linguistically diverse patient education materials, and partner with local community-based organizations to provide more information and tips to engage people in conversations about the vaccine. The Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC) will receive $25,000 of that grant. Dr. Catherine Reyes, a family medicine doctor at Lynn Community Health Center, said she is relieved and glad that this kind of support is finally happening, but she wishes that it happened sooner. “We have a duty to get the word out about the vaccine and a duty to give priority to cities like this,” she said. “It has been challenging to do so because we haven’t been made a priority and given many resources. There have been talks about equity for months now, but it’s been totally empty.” ...