Vaccination sites expanded, older adults moved up in line
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts plans to have 165 vaccination sites available by mid-February and has moved older adults ahead in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday that people age 75 and older will now be in the first priority group in Phase Two of the distribution plan, which starts Feb. 1. Those 65 and older and individuals with two or more comorbidities will now be in the second priority group, in keeping with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The administration said the state currently has the capacity to administer 242,000 doses of vaccine per week, more than the 173,000 first and second doses it expects to receive from the federal government this week.
“We’re setting up the capacity to administer far more doses than we are currently receiving or projecting to receive from the feds," the Republican said at an afternoon press conference. “We think it’s better to overplan at this point in the process and hope that the feds can get there.”
New mass vaccination sites also are opening in Springfield on Jan. 29, Danvers on Feb. 3, and Boston in the first week of February.
Baker also defended the state’s vaccine distribution plan and the decision to focus first on what he described as “hard to reach” populations.
“Many of these populations were not only hard to reach, they were vulnerable,” Baker said. “I get the fact that by choosing a number of very targeted communities and populations that we felt we should start with, that would create a slower rollout and a slower ramp up than you would see where you just took big groups by age and said ‘go.’ But I do believe that at the end of the day we made the right decision.”
The state is keeping a close eye on the shots it has already...