Massachusetts allows residents over 75 to receive vaccine – NBC Boston

In an effort to make the COVID-19 vaccine more accessible to residents 75 and older, Massachusetts plans to begin this week to allow anyone accompanying an eligible senior to one of the mass vaccination sites in the ‘State of getting vaccinated herself.

Beginning Thursday at mass vaccination sites, anyone accompanying a person 75 years of age or older to be vaccinated can make an appointment to be vaccinated on the same day.

Governor Charlie Baker announces that anyone who accompanies residents aged 75 and over to their vaccine appointments is also eligible to be vaccinated. This will take effect on Thursday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said the new accommodation allowing trusted families, friends, neighbors or caregivers to get vaccinated with vulnerable elderly people came after consulting advice on the aging and others advocated for the elderly.

While all mass vaccination sites are accessible to people with disabilities, sites like Gillette Stadium or Fenway Park can be unfamiliar and intimidating to some, and allowing trusted companions to get vaccinated as well is an effort to encourage more. of elderly people to be vaccinated.

A caregiver should schedule their own online appointment for the same day and at the same location as the resident aged 75 or older. Only one caregiver can accompany each resident.

Massachusetts says companions of people 75 and older will be able to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

To schedule appointments for a resident 75 or older and caregiver, go to mass.gov/covidvaccine and make two separate appointments at the same time or alongside. For the companion appointment, select the option “I accompany a person aged 75 and over to their vaccination appointment and my appointment is the same day”. Anyone without internet access can call 211 for assistance in making both appointments.

A caregiver can receive their first dose of the vaccine if the resident 75 years of age or older receives their second dose.

People 75 and older are eligible for the coronavirus vaccine in Massachusetts, but many other states have opened it up to people ten years younger. Some in Bay State are frustrated.

The state also announced that it will be opening two new mass vaccination sites at Natick Mall and Circuit City in Dartmouth this month.

Natick’s site will partner with LabCorp to begin delivering 500 injections per day on February 22, increasing to 3,000 doses per day.

The Dartmouth site will open two days later on February 24 in partnership with Curtative. The site will also have the capacity to treat 500 patients per day to begin with, and will eventually be able to deliver 2,000 injections per day, depending on the offer.

Appointments for the new sites will be posted on February 18.

Massachusetts got a failing grade for its coronavirus vaccine deployment, named one of the nation’s worst in a Harvard report.

With Massachusetts now receiving about 108,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccine per week from the federal government, Sudders said the state will post 100,000 appointments this week, including 74,000 new ones that will be added online Thursday.

Thirty new retail pharmacy sites are opening at CVS and Walgreens sites across the state, and Sudders said 30,000 of the new appointments will be at drugstores.

Earlier this week, Baker said mass vaccination sites “are beating around 100% in terms of vaccines allocated and vaccines administered, and they will continue to operate at that level.”

The Department of Public Health reported Tuesday that of the 1,283,700 doses of vaccine shipped to Massachusetts so far, 910,412 doses have been administered, or about 70.9%.

State House News Service contributed to this report.