Dear Governor Baker,

This letter is to urge you to recognize the science and listen to the medical community and prioritize people with type 1 diabetes at the same level as those with type 2 diabetes for COVID-19 vaccination.

The data clearly supports this:

• The risk of dying from Covid-19 was almost three times higher for people with type 1 diabetes and almost twice as high for type 2 than for those without diabetes.   https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(20)30272-2/fulltext
• People with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes who fall ill with Covid-19 have a three to four times higher risk of severe illness and hospitalization compared to people without diabetes.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33268335/
• Compared with not having diabetes, people with type 1 diabetes had adjusted odds ratios of 3.90 for hospitalization and 3.35  for greater illness severity, which was similar to risk in type 2 diabetes.  https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/44/2/526

Leaders from 19 different health organizations have called on the CDC to update their guidance based on the data to recognize type 1 diabetes in the same risk category as type 2.  

Massachusetts doesn't have to wait to change the state vaccination strategy to include people with type 1 diabetes as high risk.

We urge you to make this change with a high degree of urgency.

Thank you.