Despite the Baker-Polito Administration’s promises to make equity for communities of color a centerpiece of the state’s vaccination plan, white residents have been getting vaccinated at rates well over 50% higher than the rates for Black or Latino residents. Access has been part of the problem. In Boston and Suffolk County, only 14% of Blacks and 26% of Latinos live within a mile of a vaccination site, while 46% of white residents do. In suburban Weston, which is 80% white and has a median income of over $200,000, eligible residents can get vaccinated at Town Hall. Two other wealthy, white suburbs, Newton and Needham, have three vaccination sites within three miles of each other. Furthermore, the administration has been slow to roll out a public awareness and education campaign, contributing to higher-than-expected rates of vaccination refusals. (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/23/nation/suffolk-county-black-latino-residents-face-stark-disparities-vaccine-access/)
The Baker-Polito Administration’s failure to effectively implement a COVID vaccination program belies its claims of management expertise and of running state government efficiently. If this were a one-time failure, perhaps it could be chalked up to the unique complexities of the pandemic. However, the illusion of the administration’s management expertise (particularly in the health care field) is unmasked by the unending string of management and leadership failures, including the deadly debacles at the Holyoke Veterans’ Home and based on the Registry of Motor Vehicles malfeasance, the multiple and on-going scandals at the State Police, and the failure to effectively address transportation, climate change, housing and homelessness, and other important issues. (https://www.progressivedemsofmass.org/baker-watch/)