Lawrence opens call center for COVID vaccine appointments

LAWRENCE, Mass. — The City of Lawrence has opened a call center for COVID-19 vaccination appointments.

Local residents may call 978-620-3330 to make an appointment.

The call center at the Lawrence Public Library will be taking appointments in both English and Spanish, city officials said on Wednesday.

“We are definitely getting prepared and we are aggressively pursuing the opening of a second site and in order to do that we are hiring nurses, we have some that will already come on board over the next couple of days or weeks because we believe this is important for the community,” said Lawrence Mayor Kendrys Vasquez.

The mayor said 70 percent of Lawrence residents speak Spanish, so this hotline is crucial to get more at-risk people vaccinated.

“(It’s) not only the language, but the digital divide that exists,” Vasquez said.

Currently, the South Lawrence East School was opened with the collaboration of Lawrence General Hospital, city officials, and public school nurses to distribute vaccines.

The Greater Lawrence Family Health Center is also administering vaccinations at their clinics.

The City of Lawrence hopes to increase the number of call center workers from 10 to 30 people soon. Other cities, like Revere, have set up smaller scale phone banks.

Vasquez says until the state can get a vaccine hotline up and running, other cities should find ways to do so too.

“We have taken the lead in doing this at a larger scale – so I think it’s something that should be modeled elsewhere,” Vasquez said.

Anyone with questions is asked to call 978-620-3557.

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