HUNTINGTON – Hilltown Community Health Centers will be holding a COVID-19 vaccine clinic Saturday that will be open to those 12 and older.
“It will be by appointment or walk-ins,” said Eliza Lake, the chief executive officer of Hilltown Community Health Centers.
The clinic will take place at Stanton Hall from 9 a.m. to noon. The date for the second dose for those vaccinated at the clinic is June 26, although alternate dates can be accommodated if needed.
The clinic will be distributing the Pfizer vaccine, and is the first Pfizer clinic that the Hilltown Community Health Centers has done. It will be in collaboration with the Northampton Health Department, which Lake said has experience with that vaccine.
The Pfizer vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine authorized for those 12 and older in the United States. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines are both authorized for those 18 and older in the U.S.
Hilltown Community Health Centers is continuing to have vaccination clinics that offer Moderna or Johnson & Johnson on Fridays at Stanton Hall from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., by appointment or walk-in. All three vaccines are available at no cost.
“The Hilltowns are isolated from the pharmacies,” said Lake. “We need to vaccinate everyone.”
Lake also expressed gratitude to the town of Huntington, which has been renting out Stanton Hall free of charge.
“It’s been a great collaboration with the town,” Lake said.
Lake noted that, like the rest of the state, Hilltown Community Health Centers has seen a drop in vaccinations.
“We are really moving into another phase,” she said.
Kim Savery, the director of community programs at Hilltown Community Health Centers, noted the drop off in folks signing up to get vaccinations as well as Massachusetts’ high response rate for getting the vaccine.
“We are starting to work on a campaign,” Savery said.
The campaign involves outreach to people who are hesitant to get the vaccine, and using community health workers to reach out is a big part of the strategy. The campaign is being done in both the Hilltowns and at Hilltown Community Health Centers’ Amherst location
She said the campaign started with people who didn’t think they were eligible for the vaccine and patients of Hilltown Community Health Centers. Now it involves the wider community.
In terms of those hesitant to get the vaccine, Savery said that some are waiting to see what happens with the pandemic, others are mindful of the cost as, even though the vaccine is free, time and transportation is still involved. Still others are distrustful of the system in general, a group that Savery said includes some immigrant families.
Savery also said that COVID-19 skeptics are among those hesitant to get the vaccine.
“The outreach is going well,” Savery said. “It really does take time”
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.