Officials said many troopers received the vaccine in non-ward locations.
More than 800 Massachusetts State Police employees declined to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, despite being in the first phase of priority for the doses, police sources said.
A total of 845 members of the MSP, including sworn personnel and civilian officers, refused to receive the vaccine at state police clinics. That’s about 30% of sworn and civilian police officers.
Meanwhile, 2,002 ward members, both sworn and civilian officers, received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine in ward clinics, MSP officials told ABC News.
According to the Boston Globe, hesitation about vaccines is a problem in the state. A report last week from the state’s Department of Corrections found that more than half of staffers had declined the state’s offer to get the vaccine at work. State jail officials told the newspaper last month that the number of people who refuse the vaccine includes workers who received the shot in outside facilities.
Nancy Sterling, a spokeswoman for the State Police Association of Massachusetts, who represents the department’s 2,200 soldiers and sergeants, said she did not see any fear or hesitation among members when receiving the vaccine.
“We haven’t seen it, but then again, there’s no official mechanism for anyone to share that with us,” Sterling told ABC News. “When members asked, we suggested talking to their healthcare provider.”
Officials also stressed that the gap in vaccinations is not necessarily due to a lack of confidence in the vaccines.
“Just because members didn’t receive a vaccine at the MSP clinics doesn’t mean they refused a vaccine, it means they didn’t get a vaccine at the MSP clinics,” MSP Director of Media Communications Dave Procopio told ABC News.
Sterling said many officers received the vaccine at other locations rather than designated by the police. The union did not require agents to receive the vaccine and claimed it would be an invasion of privacy to ask members if they received a vaccine dose.
In Massachusetts, emergency responders were prioritized to get a vaccine starting Jan. 11, and the state created three vaccination sites for state forces and other emergency responders.
As of Monday, nearly 1 million people had been fully vaccinated in Massachusetts, according to the latest COVID-19 vaccination data report from the Department of Public Health.