Newton Restaurant Workers Get Help Signing Up For Vaccines

NEWTON, MA — More than 100 restaurant workers are set to be vaccinated Monday, thanks to a push from the Newton Needham Regional Chamber of commerce and collaboration across the city.

"We've been worried about so many of our front-line workers, but particularly our restaurant workers, who are the only group who face people who are not wearing masks," Chamber President Greg Reibman said.

So the chamber reached out to the city, and Mayor Ruthanne Fuller connected them with the Holtzman Medical Group, which runs a clinic on the UMass Mount Ida campus. They were able to reserve 120 vaccination spots for those who work at local restaurants.

With the help of the grassroots Neighbors Helping Newton Neighbors and restaurant owners, they started reaching out to restaurants and signing staff up, with an eye to especially making sure workers with language barriers have help with the process.

"We gave priority to employees who work locally but live in communities of color and low-income communities and other impacted populations that face many barriers to vaccine acceptance and access, as well as to older adults and adults with specified medical conditions," Reibman said.

Restaurant owners have been appreciative of the help, he added.

The chamber is hoping to continue to work with Holtzman to find more vaccines for not only more food service workers, but also retail store employees and other front line staff around the city, but may need help navigating the system.

Across the state more than 1.47 million people have gotten fully vaccinated, according to the state. In Newton, as of April 1, there were 24,700 people who were fully vaccinated — or 27 percent of the town city per capita —according to state data.

President Joe Biden has indicated he has a goal of having all adults eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1. In two weeks every Massachusetts resident older than 16 will be eligible for a vaccine.

People can still find vaccination appointments at the state website or can pre-register and be alerted when an appointment opens at a mass vaccination site near them.

Also read: Million More In MA Eligible For Coronavirus Vaccine