Fall River Among Four Communities Getting Regional Vaccine Clinic

It's been quite the week for vaccine news. It seems as if we are finally starting to move the ball.

First, Governor Charlie Baker announced a timeline that would see everyone 16 and over in Massachusetts become eligible for the COVID vaccine by April 19.

Then, even bigger news broke today that will finally attempt to put the SouthCoast on even footing with the population of the rest of the state. Four towns have joined forces to launch a new, rotating vaccine clinic designed to serve SouthCoast residents. Locations will be in Fall River, Attleboro, Taunton and Somerset.

The plan is to have the clinic rotate between these four sites throughout the week. On Mondays, vaccines will be distributed at LaSalette in Attleboro. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, Taunton's Holiday Inn will be a vaccine site. On Wednesdays, Somerset will have clinics at either the Somerset Berkley Regional High School or at the Somerset Fire Station. Thursday clinics will be held at Bristol Community College in Fall River.

The hope is that this will finally even the playing field down here on the SouthCoast, where hundreds of thousands of people were overlooked during the state's placement of mass vaccination sites. When the plan was unveiled, the nearest mass vaccination site was at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, a location that is particularly unfeasible for many of our most vulnerable residents living on the SouthCoast.

“This regional site is proof of an excellent partnership between five towns and cities, which will result in more vaccines for all of our residents,” said Mayor Paul Coogan. “I am thankful for Tess Curran’s hard work in orchestrating our clinic at Bristol Community College and ensuring that it is able to continue serving the Greater Fall River community. I look forward to working with the Massachusetts DPH and our neighboring communities to finalize the details of the Bristol County Regional clinic. ”

It is unclear when the clinic will be up and running.