Dear Pediatric Providers,
Thank you for your daily commitment to taking care of our Commonwealth’s children throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccinating. We are grateful for your invaluable work in keeping our children safe and healthy.
As a trusted source in your community, we are reaching out to you in partnership with the Department of Public Health’s Vaccine Equity Initiative (VEI). VEI works to increase trust in COVID-19 vaccines and identify and reduce barriers to the vaccine for 20 cities and towns (Boston, Brockton, Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Framingham, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lawrence, Leominster, Lowell, Lynn, Malden, Methuen, New Bedford, Randolph, Revere, Springfield, and Worcester) and priority populations most disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
Massachusetts is seeing important inequities in vaccination rates among children and families. Vaccination update during pregnancy is lowest among people who identified as Hispanic (19%) and non-Hispanic Black (17%). As of 12/14, the statewide vaccination rate for children aged 5 to 11 was 37.8%, and the rate for this population in VEI communities was 21.9%.
To address these inequities, we seek your help to talk to your patients, to support community efforts, and to share and promote these resources with your networks (click here for the full letter including resources).
PNQIN and UMass Chan Medical School are offering free trainings on: Communication Skills for Clinicians Discussing COVID-19 Vaccination. This training is a 90 minute webinar (12-1:30pm EST) designed to improve the counseling skills of Massachusetts clinicians and other providers for discussing COVID-19 vaccination with pregnant and postpartum people, parents and caregivers of young children, and families. The training will also focus on addressing vaccine hesitancy and reducing racial disparities in rates of COVID-19 vaccination. Continuing Education credits available.
Registration links and info:
