Wealthy MA Suburb Attributes Low Vax Rate To Air Force Base
LINCOLN, MA — According to Massachusetts Department of Health data, Lincoln has the lowest vaccination rate inside Interstate 495.
But their real vaccination rate is much higher, officials say. It's just that Hanscom Air Force Base, which is partially located in the town, is dragging down their numbers — as a federal facility, the base doesn't report vaccinations to the state.
As of Thursday, only 59.1 percent of residents of the leafy Boston suburb have been fully vaccinated, according to state data, making it the only town in the area with a vaccination rate below 70 percent. Several of its neighbors, like Sudbury, are at or near 90 percent vaccination.
Lincoln stands out clearly on the map below, which color codes communities by state-reported vaccination rates, from under 50 percent, red, to more than 70 percent, green. Lincoln is the lone Boston suburb marked with orange, meaning a sub-60 vaccination rate.
Community-Level Data
How to use this map: Zoom in on the map below and click on a pin to see that community's coronavirus vaccination rates. You can also view the town-by-town coronavirus vaccination data in the spreadsheet we used to create this map. The state did not report vaccination numbers for the one gray community. Some communities are grouped together for the purpose of vaccination data.
Note: For dozens of communities, up to 30 vaccinations may be missing from the data, as the state does not report totals for demographic subgroups with fewer than 30 vaccinated. No vaccination data is available for one community with a particularly low population: Gosnold.
Lincoln is high-income and highly educated, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Its residents almost all have health insurance, and they voted for Biden by a huge margin in 2020. All these factors are correlated with high vaccination rates.
So what's going on? Like in the state's town with the "lowest" vaccination rate, the problem is the state's data collection system, according to Elaine Carroll, the administrative assistant to the town's Board of Health.
Lincoln's vaccination is dragged down by a federal facility that doesn't have to report its shots to the state.
"The reason it shows only 60 percent is because we are combined with Hanscom," Carroll said. "The Town of Lincoln is over 90 percent vaccinated according to our town nurse."
>>MA Town With Lowest COVID-19 Vaccine Rate Cites ZIP Code Quirk
Lincoln's population, per the 2020 census, is just over 7,000, but the state measures its vaccination rate out of 8,697 — the town combined with the resident population of Hanscom Air Force Base, which is split between Lincoln, Bedford, Lexington and Concord.
Out of those 8,697, just 5,147 are reported as fully vaccinated by the state.
Does that mean no one at the base has been vaccinated? No — it's just that its vaccinations are not included in the state figures.
"As a federal facility, our on-base Medical Squadron does not report vaccination numbers to the state of Massachusetts," base spokesperson Patty Welsh confirmed. "COVID vaccination rates for the Air Force are released at the Department of the Air Force level, not at the individual installation level."
Over 95 percent of the Air Force is fully vaccinated, according to the force's public affairs office. That's a higher rate than all but 15 Massachusetts communities, but Welsh noted that the base residents are a mix of Air Force personnel, members of other military services, civilians with the Department of Defense and retirees.
Complicating matters further, some base residents may have been vaccinated off-base by providers who do report to the state, and even the base doesn't know the vaccination status of all residents, Welsh said.
Lincoln is not an extreme outlier among its MetroWest neighbors. It may even have the highest vaccination rate in the area. But the available data can't tell us.
Christopher Huffaker is a reporter with Patch mostly covering Andover, North Andover, Tewksbury, Wilmington and Woburn. He can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.
Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to the wrong town instead of Lincoln in one sentence. It has been corrected.
This article originally appeared on the Lexington Patch
