The latest coronavirus-induced strain on the Massachusetts health care system, across in-patient and out-patient settings, could have been avoided if more people chose to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the chief medical officer of Sturdy Memorial Hospital said Wednesday.
Massachusetts appears to be on the “other end” of the delta variant surge, said Dr. Brian Patel during a virtual panel discussion on vaccine safety and hesitancy hosted by state Sen. Becca Rausch, a Democrat from Needham. But the sharp rise in hospitalizations, Patel lamented, forced facilities to expand their licensed bed capacity and delay elective procedures — while sick patients faced longer wait times in emergency departments.
At his independent community hospital in Attleboro, Patel said 25% of licensed beds were recently used to care for COVID-19 patients, many of whom were unvaccinated. Patel said only 0.03% of breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated people in Massachusetts led to hospitalizations — and 0.007% have died of coronavirus-related complications. That percentage was updated by the Department of Public Health to 0.008% on Tuesday.
“It’s important that we pay attention to that data,” Patel said. “While we can hear anecdotes of vaccinated people getting admitted to hospitals and rare cases of vaccinated patients dying from COVID-19, the overwhelming data shows that these vaccines have been very effective in preventing severe COVID-19.”
Hospitals situated in counties with lower vaccination rates, including in central Massachusetts, saw a greater burden on resources during the height of the delta surge, Patel said. In Worcester County, for example, the vaccination rate is 69%, compared to 76% in Middlesex and Norfolk counties, according to the most recent state health data.
Rausch said Massachusetts “still has much work to do” to ensure all eligible residents are immunized. Disinformation and scare tactics have fueled vaccine hesitancy, in addition to the systemic racism that’s stymied vaccine uptake in communities of color, Rausch said.
Mistrust in the vaccines is nuanced and multilayered, said Dr. Atyia Martin, the chief executive officer and founder of All Aces, Inc. in Boston, which helps businesses and organizations foster racial equity and resilience. But Massachusetts “did not do a very good job of public health messaging,” particularly for Black and Latinx people grappling with a long history of medical racism and exploitation, Martin said during the panel discussion.
“Racial equity and social justice, they never happened by accident and they never will,” Martin said, calling for a more intentional approach to overcome gaps in public health infrastructure.
“Extend them some grace,” Martin said of unvaccinated individuals. “Many of the conversations start with misinformation, but underneath that, there’s a fear. Sometimes, the words people say are not necessarily the emotion and the actual root cause of what their concerns are.”
Dr. Regina LaRocque, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said she builds connections with patients by asking where they obtained their information about the COVID-19 vaccines. She then shares her own sources of information.
“It all boils down to trust and who does somebody trust to help them in that decision,” LaRocque said.
Related Content:
Ad Choices