U.S. Sen. Warren Questions Reopenings, Warning COVID-19 Could ‘Come Back and Bite Us’

Among those touring the Methuen Family Health Center Monday were Rep. Linda Dean Campbell, Congresswoman Lori Trahan, Rep. Frank Moran, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Greater Lawrence Family Health Center’s Senior Vice President of External Relations and Chief Marketing and Development Officer Richard Napolitano. Not show is state Sen. Diana DiZoglio. (Courtesy photograph.)

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, during a visit yesterday to a vaccination clinic operated by the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, warned the state’s fast-tracked reopening process may be endangering residents.

Warren said the end of the pandemic is in sight, but “we haven’t reached that tipping point” yet where it is safe.

“The consequences of not being vigilant. The consequences of not following the science are not just that it will be a few more weeks before a restaurant opens, it will be that our friends, our neighbors will be at risk,” she warned.

Warren, Congresswoman Lori Trahan and members of the area’s legislative delegation toured the Methuen Family Health Center. Warren praised the vaccination effort, but called for greater reliance on the advice of health experts.

“You can’t cheat a pandemic. It will come back and bite us if we are not careful,” she said.

Warren said she and Trahan are working to ensure the Commonwealth receives the two things it needs most.

“More vaccines coming to Massachusetts and more resources to be able to reach out to every single community—ultimately, to every single person,” she added.

Trahan said community health centers are the nation’s “best-equipped partners” to administer vaccines to residents where they are.

“They’re also calling people up on the phone and making sure, like ‘you are eligible for a vaccine. Let’s get you in here.’ So, I think, those resources are what’s needed,” Trahan said.

Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, including its sites in Lawrence, Methuen and Haverhill, was awarded $8.5 million from the American Rescue Plan.

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