FRANKLIN COUNTY VACCINATION PLAN UPDATE: Issue 1 Friday, January 29th, 2021

Please note: This Vaccination Plan Update will primarily address vaccination planning relative to Franklin County municipalities. The Update is not intended to be comprehensive messaging that covers all vaccination issues happening in the county by all partners.

KEY UPDATES: (Monday, January 25th-Friday, January 29th) Vaccine supply is limited and variable, making planning complicated. Supply is expected to fluctuate over the next weeks and months in Massachusetts and across the U.S. As of January 25, 2021, vaccine delivery to registered municipal vaccine providers is limited to 100 doses per week per provider through February. Franklin County residents seeking to enroll online for their vaccination may find that they cannot choose a date, time, and location for their shot, even though they are eligible to receive the vaccine. There are 6 registered municipal sites that are eligible to receive Phase 2 vaccines. Each are capped at 100 doses per week. The FRCOG is directly coordinating with 5 of these sites. The plan is to pool 5 of these sites doses and have them available early February in Greenfield for persons 75 years of age and older. We are also working with Orange to keep each other apprised of each other's planning efforts. In Franklin County, regularly updated Covid-19 vaccine information is available on the FRCOG website. FRCOG maintains a Covid Hotline with regularly updated vaccine information. Call 413-774-3167 x153. Residents of Franklin County are encouraged to volunteer at vaccine clinics by joining the county's Medical Reserve Core (MRC). More information on joining the MRC can be found here.   Phase 2 of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' immunization effort begins on Tuesday, February 2, 2021.

ONE FRANKLIN COUNTY PLAN

FRCOG, together with the Mohawk Area Public Health Coalition (MAPHCO), the Franklin County Regional Emergency Planning Committee (REPC), the Cooperative Public Health Service (CPHS), and registered municipal vaccine providers, have agreed on the following One Franklin County plan: FRCOG and the above-listed partners, in coordination, will develop, disseminate, and implement one messaging plan. This plan includes: Distributing information to county municipalities and other stakeholders weekly or more frequently, as necessary, through the Multi-Agency Coordination Center (MACC) platform.  Releasing public education messaging weekly via print, web, social media, telephone hotline, and radio that provides clear and concise information of who is eligible to receive a vaccine and where and how to get it. Monitor and work with hospitals, community health centers, and other private vaccine providers to know what populations are eligible for the vaccine and how many are being served. (We currently anticipate that the majority of vaccines will be distributed through large statewide sites and private providers so local response will be critical, but potentially limited. This is subject to change as the state moves through the vaccination phases and is dependent on availability of the vaccine.) Coordinate scheduling and logistics. Monitor changes at the federal and state level to quickly adapt local response and planning. Share resources including staff, volunteers, equipment and, initially, vaccine. Agree on when and where local clinics are held and the role and extent of local clinics. Coordinate planning on how to vaccinate hard-to-reach populations and help people without technology capacity for registration, etc.

The County Plan will change often! This is why: Changes in science Ever improving research on the virus and its strains. Vaccine production, availability, and approvals.  Changes in the federal response Expansion of vaccine distribution Funding for state and local response Potential for federal vaccination sites Changes in state response and guidance Phased approach to manage limited vaccine and expectations Phases change State’s vaccine distribution plan changes in response to vaccine availability and continual evaluation of efficiency and capacity Changes in local response Responses to the changes above are always on-going Assessment of capacity and lessons learned from testing sites and first responder clinics are always on-going Assessment of county demographics and population to identify vaccine-eligible populations are always on-going

THE ROLE OF THE FRCOG Some of what the FRCOG has already been doing related to COVID vaccination remains unchanged and will continue while new roles have begun this week. 

Ongoing roles include: Monitoring changes at the federal and state level and advocating on behalf of the region with the MA Dept. of Public Health. Monitoring and working with hospitals, community health centers, and other private vaccine providers. Coordinating closely with stakeholders. Providing technical assistance for Franklin County municipalities around vaccination planning.

New roles for the FRCOG Develop and disseminate countywide coordinated messaging. Draft and facilitate distribution of weekly MACC reports to inform municipal partners of ongoing vaccination planning efforts and results. Enhance public education and communication plan and ensure wide distribution to a variety of media outlets Plan and implement countywide logistics including scheduling and management of resources, facilities, volunteers, equipment. Develop ongoing and scaled local response efforts through Phases 2 and 3 based on an assessment of private, state, and federal distribution and vaccine availability. Manage all aspects of vaccine distribution for the allotment of vaccine provided to the FRCOG and assist with vaccine distribution for other local vaccine, as requested. 

LOOKING AHEAD: the County Plan February - Spring 2021

Vaccinations and Vaccination Clinics  Vaccines will be distributed by private health care providers in Franklin County (local MD offices and pharmacies), and large statewide sites like UMass and in Springfield. Valley Medical Group and the Community Health Center of Franklin County will begin vaccinating eligible patients Monday, February 1, 2021; Baystate Franklin’s Greenfield vaccination site for its patients will open in late February. Patients of private health care providers are asked not to call about vaccinations. Providers will reach out directly to their patients when vaccines are available for them. Because the amount of vaccine distributed to local providers is so limited in February, the Greenfield Jon Zon Center (35 Pleasant Street) will be the primary vaccination site through February. The amount of vaccine distributed to area public health nurses to reach the most vulnerable populations in the county will be determined based on how much vaccine we receive. The month of February will be used to plan for the opening of other local clinics once the supply of vaccine increases. Through the winter and Phase 2, sites will be indoors. In addition to Greenfield, we are planning for sites in Deerfield, Shelburne, and Bernardston. In the spring and Phase 3 (general population), we are planning for large outdoor drive-through sites. (These sites may be unnecessary if large state and federal vaccination sites are nearby and are shown to have adequate capacity and efficiency.)

Partner Roles and Other Logistics FRCOG and the Northwest MA Incident Management Team will provide overall regional coordination with Tracy Rogers as Incident Commander. Clinic volunteers, both medical and non-medical, will be provided by the Franklin County Medical Reserve Corps. First responders will be called upon to provide support such as traffic control and emergency medical services. Lifepath’s SHINE volunteers and local councils on aging will help identify seniors that critically need to be vaccinated, assess if they can get to Greenfield or need more localized assistance, and assist with paperwork and registration for those that do not have the technical capacity to register online. Local boards of health will volunteer in February at the Greenfield clinics through the MRC as needed; work with Lifepath and councils on aging to identify and reach out to 75+ residents in their communities and assess if they need transportation or other assistance; ensure distribution of messaging materials; and through MAPHCO/REPC, be actively engaged in assessment of service delivery and planning for the extent and roll out of future phases.  FRCOG recognizes that one bottleneck that must be quickly resolved is the need for additional vaccine managers (RNs) that will be responsible for the distribution, transport, monitoring and documenting of vaccines. We are working to hire additional nurses.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

What can you inform residents? We are still in the early days of this enormous effort. There is extensive planning going on in our region. There will be many, many ways to get the vaccine. Current vaccination shipments into the county are less than promised and there are limited supplies available. People who meet Phase 2 requirements will need to remain patient and will be notified when it is their turn to be vaccinated.  Regularly updated FRCOG COVID vaccination hotline: 413-774-3167 x153. Additional information can be found on the FRCOG webpage. Where can people get the vaccine?  Eventually, all 68,000 people in our county will be offered the vaccine. When it is their turn, people will get their vaccines from many different places, including: Primary care practices like Valley Medical Group and Baystate Medical Practices The Community Health Center of Franklin County Pharmacies that usually give vaccines State-supported mass vaccination clinics like the one now open at UMass Amherst  Board of health clinics organized by health departments and health districts, including FRCOG's Cooperative Public Health Service.

Where can you learn more?  You can join us online every two weeks for the FRCOG’s COVID Coordination Roundtables, open to any municipal stakeholder. Contact Phoebe Walker for more information or to ask for something to be put on the agenda.  Two important links for information from the Commonwealth are below: MA COVID Vaccine Website When can I get the COVID Vaccine?

Franklin Regional Council of Governments | www.frcog.org