BHS, Berkshire Boards of Health to host Vaccine Clinic

10:27AM / Tuesday, October 04, 2022Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Berkshire Health Systems and the Berkshire County Boards of Health Association are teaming up for a vaccination clinic in Williamstown in October. The clinic, to be held on Friday, Oct. 21 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Williams College Field House, is open to the public and to staff and students from Williams College.

The clinic will provide the COVID-19 Bivalent Booster, which is effective against the latest strains of the COVID-19 virus, BA.4 and BA.5, and the Flu vaccine to help prevent Influenza. In order to receive the Bivalent vaccine, you must have received the first two primary doses of either Pfizer or Moderna, or the single primary dose of Johnson & Johnson. Both Pfizer and Moderna Bivalent vaccines will be available at this clinic.

Pre-registration is required, with limited doses available, and the clinic has 400 open slots for the community. As a result, it is recommended that those interested register as soon as possible. To register, visit https://home.color.com/vaccine/register/berkshire. Please also have your COVID-19 vaccine card in hand.

Tags: BHS, vaccinations,

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Local Authorities Responding to State's Action on Kratom

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
10:43AM / Tuesday, August 18, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Board of Health on Monday began a discussion about regulating the sale of kratom products in town.

The board's monthly meeting came four days after the governor's office in Boston announced that the commonwealth temporarily will designate kratom, also known by its chemical name and marketed with the term "7-OH" as a Schedule I drug, greatly restricting its sale in Massachusetts as of Aug. 28.

The board already was meeting virtually with the director of South County's Tri-Town Health Department on a different matter. Jim Wilusz stayed on the conference call to discuss the implications of Gov. Maura Healey's Thursday announcement on 7-OH, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has called potentially "The Next Wave of the Opioid Epidemic."

Wilusz said he already was working on draft regulations for Tri-Town based, in part, on an ordinance enacted by Northampton before Gov. Maura Healey's announcement. But in the wake of the announcement and the classification of kratom as a Schedule I drug, he might have to change the language of the proposed ordinance.

Healey's emergency order of Aug. 14 is intended to "give local boards of health and other municipal officials additional authority to take enforcement action against retailers selling kratom products," according to a news release announcing the move.

"I was actually hoping they were going to pass a statewide ban on this thing," Wilusz said. "This goes into effect Aug. 28, so effective the 28th, they can't have kratom in the entire state on their shelves with a one-year [period] to give not only boards of health but, possibly, the Legislature, time to enact regulation.

"I don't know if the intent is to work on a statewide Department of Public Health regulation, which would be ideal, where you would have uniformity across the entire state. It does authorize the boards of health to enact local regulations."

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