Woburn Vaccinates Dozens Of First Responders On First Day

Woburn MA

13 January, 2021

4:19 PM

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WOBURN, MA — Dozens of Woburn city employees were vaccinated Tuesday at the first day of the city's first responder vaccination clinic, Mayor Scott Galvin said. The city received 200 doses and plans to administer all of them by the end of the week, he said. Fifty-five were administered Tuesday. Woburn is authorized to vaccinate public safety workers as well as any health care workers who did not get vaccinated by an institution they work for. Once the state moves into the next phase of vaccinations, city officials hope they will be able to keep running the clinic at the Senior Center to vaccinate other municipal and school employees as well as members of the public. About 50 percent of the city's first responders had signed up as of midday Wednesday, Galvin said. He expects more will sign up after the first group gets their shots. "I keep talking to the chiefs on a daily basis to get more of them to take it," the mayor said. "We haven't mandated it — I don't think we should have to." The vaccination process has gone smoothly so far, Galvin said. The city is using a registration system provided by the state and has a contingency list of people to call in to make sure no doses go to waste. Galvin also noted that the city continues to offer free coronavirus testing on Saturdays, also at the Senior Center. Registration for this week's testing is available here. The city received CARES funds for testing, Galvin said, and residents had complained of having a hard time getting tested. "Given the city is a red community, we want to do those things to help the residents," he said. About 500 residents getting tested each week at the city's clinic. Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or [email protected].