Officials said many soldiers received the vaccine in places outside the department.
More than 800 Massachusetts State Police employees refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, despite being in the first stage of priority dosing, police sources said.
A total of 845 MSP members, including jurors and civilian officers, refused to receive the vaccine at state police clinics. This represents about 30% of the force’s sworn and civilian officers.
Meanwhile, 2,002 members of the department, both sworn officers and civilian officers, received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine at the department’s clinics, MSP officials told ABC News.
According to the Boston Globe, hesitation about the vaccine is a problem in the state. A report last week by the state Department of Corrections found that more than half of its employees turned down the state’s offer to get the vaccine at work. State prison officials told the newspaper last month that the number of people refusing the vaccine includes workers who were shot at off-site facilities.
Nancy Sterling, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts State Police Association, which represents the department’s 2,200 soldiers and sergeants, said she saw no fear or hesitation among members about the vaccination.
“We haven’t seen it, but again there’s no official mechanism for anyone to share it with us,” Sterling told ABC News. “If members asked, I suggested they talk to their healthcare professionals.”
Officials also stressed that the vaccination gap is not necessarily due to a lack of confidence in vaccines.
“The fact that members did not receive a vaccine at MSP clinics does not mean that they refused a vaccine, it means that they did not receive a vaccine during MSP clinics,” MSP media communications director Dave Procopio told ABC News.
Sterling said many officers received the vaccine elsewhere, rather than in those designated by police. The union did not mandate officers to receive the vaccine and claimed it would be an invasion of privacy to ask members if they had received a dose of the vaccine.
In Massachusetts, the first respondents were given priority to receive a vaccine as of January 11, and the state created three vaccination sites for state soldiers and other first responders.
As of Monday, nearly 1 million people have been completely vaccinated in Massachusetts, according to the latest report from the Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 vaccine.