Experts and advocates urge greater equity in distributing doses

As everyone in Massachusetts 16 or older becomes eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine Monday, health officials cautioned the state must do more to deliver doses to communities of color, which have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic.

With appointments open to 1.7 million more residents, the state will reserve 20,000 appointments for communities of color for a week, starting Monday, at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center mass-vaccination site, according to Governor Charlie Baker. A recent analysis found that Black and Latino communities have some of the lowest inoculation rates in the state.

But to help people in those communities more easily get shots, the state should work to open vaccination sites in neighborhoods, said Dr. Robert Horsburgh, a Boston University professor of epidemiology. Officials need to coordinate with community leaders to build trust in those efforts, he said, and make it as simple as possible by offering walk-in vaccinations.

“People not getting vaccinated; that’s a real concern,” Horsburgh said. “The way to do this is take the vaccinations to the communities themselves . . . you need to make it easy.”