North Shore Unites On 'Safe Summer' Vaccination Campaign

PEABODY, MA — As Gov. Charlie Baker laid out a pathway to the end of the state's coronavirus-related business restrictions on Tuesday, officials from 10 North Shore cities and towns unveiled their plan to accelerate that process as much as possible and bring back events across the region as soon as they can.

The North Shore Coalition for a Safe Summer is a joint effort from Beverly, Danvers, Gloucester, Hamilton, Marblehead, Nahant, Newburyport, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott to encourage residents to get vaccinated and by doing that help hasten the return to normal across the region.

"The North Shore does have a unique identity and we view ourselves as all part of this one beautiful part of the state," Peabody Board of Health Director Sharon Cameron told Patch on Tuesday. "There are all these places to go, all the beautiful beaches that we have where maybe people weren't able to go and enjoy last year with the concerns around the virus.

"Vaccination is a way to get back to doing the things we want to do on the North Shore."

Several of the communities are combining on a regional vaccination clinic at Salem State University that the state approved for supply on Tuesday and have, in the past, met to consider regional restrictions when coronavirus cases surged in area hospitals.

"Within our communities, there is really a lot of flow across the borders," Cameron said. "And, obviously, diseases don't recognize borders. Vaccinating the entire region is going to help us."

Gov. Baker on Tuesday said the state will ease its outdoor mask mandate as of Friday, and further ease business restrictions at intervals on May 10 and May 29, and allow things like road races, as well as street fairs and festivals at 50 reduced capacity.

Baker targeted Aug. 1 as the date when all coronavirus-related business restrictions could be lifted — but added that date could be moved up if vaccination rates continue at their current pace and coronavirus deaths, hospitalizations and case counts decline.

"We need to continue to see the kind of momentum that we have seen on vaccinations going forward over the next six weeks — deep into the month of May (to move up the Aug. 1 date) — which I fully expect is possible," Baker said.

Regionally, more than 95,000 residents — or 37 percent — in the 10 participating cities and towns have been fully vaccinated.

In Beverly, 14,383 out of 41,071 residents are fully vaccinated and 21,007 have received at least a first dose.

Peabody reported 19,557 out of 55,967 residents fully vaccinated with an additional 7,878 having received at least a first dose.

Salem said it has 13,897 out of 45,021 residents fully vaccinated with an additional 7,241 having received at least a first dose.

Swampscott said 41 percent of its residents are fully vaccinated with 63 percent having received at least a first dose.

"We're not at the levels yet where we hope to be where we have broad community immunity," said Cameron, who added funds for the campaign came from a Peabody grant to support new mothers that went unused last year because of the pandemic. "We're looking to build people's confidence to want to receive the vaccine."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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