Officials said many troops received the vaccine in places that are not part of the department.
More than 800 Massachusetts state police employees declined to receive the COVID-19 vaccine despite being in the first phase of priority dosing, police sources said.
A total of 845 MSP members, including sworn staff and civilian officers, refused to receive the vaccine at state police clinics. This represents approximately 30% of the sworn and civilian officers of the force.
Meanwhile, 2,002 members of the department, sworn officials and civilians, received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine at the department’s clinics, MSP officials told ABC News.
According to the Boston Globe, hesitation is a problem in the state. A report from the state Department of Corrections last week showed that more than half of its officials had turned down an offer from the state to get the vaccine to work. State prison officials reported in the newspaper that the number of people rejecting 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 has seen no fear or hesitation among members in receiving the vaccine.
“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 ask, we suggest they talk to their healthcare professional.”
Officials also stressed that the gap in vaccinations is not necessarily due to a lack of confidence in vaccines.
“That members did not receive a vaccine at MSP clinics does not mean that they rejected the vaccine, it does not mean that they did not receive vaccine during MSP clinics,” said Dave Procopio, director of MSP Media Communications, Dave Procopio.
Sterling said many officers received the vaccine elsewhere, rather than those designated by police. The union has not forced officers to receive the vaccine and has said it would be an invasion of privacy to ask members if they have received a dose of vaccine.
In Massachusetts, priority was given to the first people to receive a response to receive a vaccine as of Jan. 11, and the state created three vaccination sites for state soldiers and other firsts.
As of Monday, nearly one million people were fully vaccinated in Massachusetts, according to the latest Department of Public Health COVID-19 vaccine data report.