North End Waterfront Health (NEW Health) is now accepting walk-ins for the COVID-19 vaccine and, according to NEW Health’s Megan Ohlson, the clinic is currently administering Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to residents 18 and older at its locations in Charlestown and the North End.
“Anyone who is 18 and older and is interested in getting a vaccine can visit the North End or Charlestown clinic,” said Ohlson.
Pfizer is one of the three currently available COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in teens under 18. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have only been approved for individuals who are 18 and older and these are the vaccines currently being offered by NEW Health.
“NEW Health is currently administering Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, which is not available for ages 16 and 17,” said Ohlson.
The health center is providing vaccines without appointment to anyone interested. The Charlestown site remains at NEW Health at 15 Tufts St. while the North End vaccination clinic has moved to St. Leonard’s Church at 31 Prince St. Individuals interested in learning more can reach the dedicated phone lines by calling 857-238-1141 for the Charlestown location and 617-724-8725 for the North End location where they will be prompted to leave a message with their information and a patient service representative will call them back.
The Charlestown site will be open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Hours for the North End site will be Thursdays 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Fridays 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
There’s been a lot of talk of herd immunity on the news. Herd immunity is basically what happens when a critical number of people or a critical percentage of the population gets the vaccine and gets protected from a virus.
If only a few people are vaccinated it leaves many folks vulnerable to infection. For the person who has COVID, the COVID can jump to other people very easily, especially with new more infectious strains of the virus.
However, when a large amount of people are vaccinated the virus begins to be boxed out of the population because it has nowhere to go. As more people are vaccinated the population is essentially limiting the amount of vulnerable people who can get the virus and spread it to others.