After spending significant time with food relief efforts in Chelsea last spring, the National Guard has announced it will be returning with a medical mission to help support vaccination sites here.
As part of the Commonwealth’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan, the Massachusetts National Guard has begun providing support of vaccination initiatives. Beginning last week, 10 medically qualified Guard members are partnering with the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) to administer vaccines in East Boston.
Medically qualified soldiers and airmen began assisting with vaccine administration. Their assistance at EBNHC is expected to continue for at least three weeks to support four vaccination sites throughout EBNHC’s service area including East Boston, Chelsea, Revere and the South End. The mission is federally funded. The Guard will continue to make qualified personnel available to the Executive Office of Health and Human Services for deployment to facilities requesting assistance.
The National Guard has personnel with a range of applicable expertise within its ranks, including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, emergency medical technicians, and medics. These individuals have already administered the vaccine to 1,000 eligible Massachusetts soldiers and airmen, and now shift their focus to assisting in clinical settings for eligible members of the public.
The Massachusetts National Guard’s first priorities are to save lives and protect property, and Guard personnel have assisted the Commonwealth since the earliest days of the crisis, providing a wide range of services to state agencies and local authorities. As a diverse and highly trained force whose members live and work in communities across the Commonwealth, the Guard has a proven track record of success supporting civilian authorities during and after state emergencies, and its units frequently train side-by-side with state and local first responders, making them well-suited for domestic operations.