BOSTON, MA– Co-Chairs of the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition – Dr. Atyia Martin of the Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition, Eva Millona of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, and Carlene Pavlos of the Massachusetts Public Health Association – today released the following statement today in response to Governor Baker’s announcement of additional funding for the Vaccine Equity Initiative.

“The Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition appreciates that Governor Baker is taking steps toward addressing the persistent racial inequities in Massachusetts’ COVID-19 vaccine rollout and that he is listening to our coalition of Black, Latinx and immigrant leaders across the Commonwealth who have organized and demanded change. We hope this signals the administration’s willingness to begin a productive dialogue with community leaders about vaccine equity.”

“That said, equity will be found in the details. One month ago, the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition demanded that Governor Baker allocate $10 million for community-based organizations and engage them directly in the implementation of the rollout. It is unclear what part, if any, of the administration’s newly-announced investments will be used for this purpose. We need assurance that the 20% additional allocation of doses promised in the administration’s original plan is now available to the hardest hit communities – something that we did not hear in this announcement. We also want to hear that the administration has set benchmarks to track their own progress and hold themselves accountable to close these gaps.”

Read the full release.