Gloucester Health Department Announces Partnership with Gloucester Family Health Center to Distribute COVID-19 Vaccines

GLOUCESTER — Public Health Director Karin Carroll is pleased to share that the Gloucester Health Department is partnering with Gloucester Family Health Center to hold a small vaccine clinic next week.

The clinic will be held on Tuesday, April 20, at the Rose Baker Senior Center on Manuel F. Lewis St. At the clinic, 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine will be distributed, and a subsequent clinic will also be offered to offer those individuals their second dose later this spring. 

“We’re so thankful the Gloucester Family Health Center is partnering with us on this initiative to make vaccination against COVID-19 more accessible in our community,” Public Health Nurse Kelley Hiland said. “Vaccination opportunities that are nearby make a huge difference by reducing barriers to vaccination like transportation and time.”

The Gloucester Health Department, in collaboration with the Gloucester Family Health Center, is conducting targeted outreach to congregate care sites, home health agencies and low income housing sites to ensure equitable access to the vaccine for those residents. 

“GFHC is happy to partner with the Gloucester Health Department on the critically important work of providing lifesaving vaccine to city residents,” said North Shore Community Health President & CEO Margaret A. Brennan. “Gloucester residents should consider themselves lucky to have such a strong local health department and we look forward to continued collaboration. “

If there are still appointments available following the Gloucester Health Department’s targeted outreach, the clinic will be expanded to additional priority groups and more information will be shared by the health department via its news blog, Facebook page, Twitter account and the city website at that time.

The Gloucester Health Department is reactivating its Incident Command System vaccine team to manage the clinic in partnership with Gloucester Family Health Center staff. The ICS vaccine team oversaw 30 local and regional clinics, mostly held at the Rose Baker Senior Center, from January until early this month vaccinating people as they became eligible for the vaccine, including medical professionals, first responders, those 75-years-old and older, those with two or more comorbidities, and others. 

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