Massachusetts evaluates Middleboro Migrants’ healthcare needs

MIDDLEBORO — A vaccine screening  for migrants housed at Quality Inn was conducted by town and healthcare professionals on Thursday, Oct. 12.

“Today has been a very busy and hectic day,” Smith. She said that she was assisting the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in gathering the information regarding vaccine status of migrants staying at the inn.  

The migrants “have all these questions that need to be answered” during the screening, Smith said. “And now instead of passing a phone back and forth [and communicating through translation software], we have an actual human connection.”

Manouchka Jean-Risme, a nurse working at the hotel, said that the purpose of the screening was to “get the vaccine information of the refugees” and “[put] it in our database, so that it’s easier for whoever needs that information to access it.”

Jean-Risme said that the migrants had received different vaccines from countries they had passed through or lived in before arriving at the United States. 

“Wherever they’re coming from, … they are vaccinated,” she said. “But every region has their standards.”

In addition, Jean-Risme said that sometimes people delay getting a vaccine for a variety of reasons, such as waiting for a more convenient time. 

“Just like any parent here, you have the appointment for your kids’ vaccines, but you might miss it or you might delay it a few months around the school year,” Jean-Risme explained. “So what they’re missing is usually appropriate in keeping with the child’s age, give or take a few months.”

The purpose of the screening is to collect the data and determine if there are any vaccines that a migrant is missing, Jean-Risme explained. “We just make sure that whatever they’ve had in the past is up to par with the standards we set, so we know they’re safe and they’re protected and we’re protected.”

Smith said that any vaccines a migrant might be missing would be administered at a later date. 

Originally, as of Sep. 26, there were 24 migrants in the hotel and all of the migrants were from Haiti at the time. On Friday Oct. 13, Middleboro town manager James McGrail said in a statement that there “are currently approximately 150 migrants living in Middleborough” who are from Haiti and South America.